


Foundation

by Lord77



Series: Uplifted [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-07 16:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21461065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord77/pseuds/Lord77
Summary: Zootopia, where humans never existed...as far as they know.Welcome to the creation of Zootopia, and the reason why humans were not around.
Relationships: Judy Hopps & Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Series: Uplifted [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113149
Comments: 56
Kudos: 112





	1. Treaty

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first attempt in this genre, after being drawn into it due to the fine works of Kulkum, Shippingmammals, Fox in the hen house, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, and so many others that have managed to steal much of my productive time, which I willingly gave to consume their works (many times). But after so many stories read, I was still left with a question of "How did Zootopia start?". And yes, any time one tries to fill a hole in a fictional work, one tends to create many more. But, here's my shot at moving the dirt.
> 
> As many have prefaced their works, I do not own the rights to any of these "borrowed" characters (whether Zootopia, Foundation, or others that I'm paying tribute to here). I'm not even sure that I own my own sanity, but that's a different issue.
> 
> I will, however, give a great shout out to Arivelle of thanks for helping me insure some clarity in the story. She's as great of an editor as she is creative, and I've liberally borrowed some of her suggestions into this and upcoming chapters.
> 
> I hope you find this enjoyable. 
> 
> Lordy...

(Foundation Datestamp, 1510NT)

Only a few, perfectly white clouds uncaringly pass in the sky overhead, guided by soft breezes that gently bend a field of lemon grass below, warmed by the sun that is now almost directly overhead. This idyllic day mirrors the hopefulness of the gathering, all who have come to celebrate the start of a final peace where predator and prey put aside their history and begin a new life of friendship.

The Savanna waterhole, the place where for centuries all forms of mammals would come to drink without fear under an unbroken ritual of truce, is the site of the gathering. Low-toned conversions buzz along the bank as collections of prey and predators, all donned in various medieval outfits, stand in separate groups of their own species. By agreement, each group has left their weaponry behind, and now, all anxiously await the start of the ceremonial summit to begin at the height of the sun in the sky.

A hush falls as Leopold, king of lions, wearing a dark blue cloak over a lighter blue tunic, steps forward towards the water’s bank and faces the low, smooth boulder that is larger than the span of the lion himself and is now the symbol of mammalian unity. Atop the rock is stretched the tapestry of peace. The white cloth, casting a warm yellow glow under the noon-time sun, is currently empty as it waits for the pairs of signatories to place their mark upon it.

“My friends,” the majestically maned lion announces, “It has been a moon’s cycle since we first met here at this very spot and declared our intentions to end lifetimes of animosity, aggression, and fear. Predator and Prey alike have stated their acceptance of the ideals and have returned today from their tribes with consents to formalize this historic agreement. Let us now step forward as pairs, once enemies, now friends.”

From Leopold’s right, a hulking water buffalo steps to the rock and offers his hoof to the lion, where upon the leo grasps it enthusiastically with his paw, shaking it.

“Bubalus Bogo. It is with great joy that I greet you here today! I welcome you to join me in hosting this event and be the first to apply our signatures to this tapestry of peace.”

Off to the side, a grey wolf watches while standing slightly apart from his representing pack. Momentarily tuning out the pronouncements of peace being given by the arranged pairs of mammals adding their own acceptances to the cloth, he listens to words that none other can hear. A slight shake of the canis’ head, and his attention again becomes clear. No longer focused on the stone’s gathering, the grey wolf searches and finally spots a distant, lone figure garbed in a long, shaman’s robe, mostly hidden by a candelabra tree’s trunk and brush understory.

Furrowing his brows, the wolf steps away from his pack, and not to bring attention to himself, circles behind the gathering at a deliberately slow pace, making a longer loop that eventually takes him to the figure. Stopping a few steps from the rear of the robed watcher, the predator makes use of the same camouflage.

“I know you’re there, Woofy,” the figure states without turning, in a low-voiced tone barely loud enough for the wolf to hear.

“Ugh. You know I hate that nickname, Palver. But, have you lost your mind?! If you’re seen here, you could be exposed!” the wolf spits out in a whisper, gaining a snorted low chuckle from the other.

“Ironic use of words there, as I’m sure you heard the call too,” the figure responds from deep within his hooded cowl, the shadow leaving no features visible. “But, I assure you that no mammal will take note of my presence.”

“Using your voodoo on everyone?” the canis asks, wiggling his claws.

The cowl crinkles indicating an invisible smile.

“It doesn’t quite work that way, Wolfert. But, as long as I stay here quietly and not draw any attention to myself, none will bother to approach a mammal garbed as one of deep religion, even if it is but a guise.”

“Of course, you standing here talking to me doesn’t help,” Palver adds with a soft chuckle.

“Yeah. Well, I was dispatched to find you. Doc says it’s time.”

Shoulders slightly slumping, the robed figure lets out a reluctant breath.

“I know. I heard,” the response, barely above a whisper, carries a note of woe.

Standing taller now, Palver adds. “But, I wanted to see this myself. Over fifteen-hundred years in the making, I couldn’t just sit back at the base and watch it via cloaked drones. All of our work to get us to this point was something I wanted to see and remember...before they rip out my mind and move it to the new host.”

Stepping closer, the wolf looks up to see that scattered rays between the candelabra leaves now briefly lights the inside of the cowl and reveals a flat face with a greying beard, yet furless at the nose, eyes and forehead.

“Your guidance is needed, Palver,” the wolf says softly, turning back to watch two new pairings of predator and prey hesitantly approach the stone, this time with growing insistence from the presiding lion and water buffalo. “You’ll at least get to see my grandchildren grow up.”

“I’ll try to remember that while I scream in pain over the next week as the synapses reset,” Palver responds morosely.

“Now, let’s listen as the pair I’ve been waiting for are about to sign,” he adds with a lifting tone as finally approaching the rock of peace are two of the most unwilling participants, a red fox and a grey bunny.

\--------------------------------------------------

“Victor Wilden and Lapinia Long-Hopp,” Bogo starts with a deadly serious don’t-mess-with-me look on his face, “You are welcome here to finally end a long period of animosity between your two species. I hope both of you will accept this action in the spirit that has brought us together today.”

“Lapinia, thank you for standing in for your husband who, as I understand, is recovering currently,” Leopold adds, offering her the signature quill.

“If the fool hadn’t slipped, he’d been attempting to recover from death by my blade,” the fox snarks.

Whipping to her left to face the vulpin, the grey doe snaps, “Luckily he did, or that arrow would have you here without a head, rather than just down an eye!”, and covers her right eye with a front paw imitating the eye-patch being worn by her signatory partner.

“It’s a pity there’s a ban on eating one’s enemy. My grandfather used to tell me wonderful stories of the tastiness of rabbit meat after battle,” the todd spits as he snarls.

Stamping the ground before her, Long-Hopp responds, “And my crops grow tall fertilized by the blood of the inept thugs you call soldiers. Do the real predators know you're posing as one of them?”

“ENOUGH!” Leopold bellows, silencing the two mammals. “You will both sign and accept this treaty on behalf of your species, or this land will soon be empty of what used to be known as foxes or rabbits!”

Reluctantly, both parties add their signatures to the cloth, each while mumbling their continued disgruntlement.

\--------------------------------------------------

“It will never stick between those two,” Wolfert hushly quips to his taller companion.

“Never is a long time,” comes the quick response.

Shaking his head, a second thought dawns to the lupine. “What’s so special about those two that you’d come all the way out here to watch them?”

“I have a particular fondness for rabbits and foxes,” Palver waxes. “Foxes were swift to uplift and immediately showed their abilities in problem solving and handiwork. Rabbits, on the other hand, were one of the most difficult species.”

“Dumb bunnies, huh?” Wolfert snorts.

“Not at all,” Palver corrects with a light laugh. “Actually, quite the contrary. They resisted sentience because they didn't see a need for it. They were already quite capable as a prey species with heightened natural abilities and defenses to match. In all my ‘voodoo’ as you call it, rabbits were and are the hardest for me to...well, let’s say ‘touch’. They gave us a good challenge and are special to me because of that.”

A quiet then passes between the two as the ceremonies continue around the peace rock.

“But, there is something else bothering you, isn’t there?” Palver asks quietly, opening the invitation.

The grey wolf exhales slowly, “The elders. They, umm.. They’ve asked me to be pack leader.”

“Hmm...I see, and what do you want?”

Wolfert softly answers in a perceptibly troubled tone. “My loyalty has always been to you and the team ever since you found me and brought me in. My inclusion in the pack is by marriage, not blood, and my leadership due to the unfair advantage of the knowledge gained by being part of the Foundation. But...”

“But the offer tempts you,” the taller companion states, getting a nod from the wolf.

“I think you understate your self-worth, Wolfert,” Palver adds, now turning fully towards the shorter mammal. The wolf’s ears perk up and forward with eyes now wider.

“Having information is one thing. But, understanding the importance of the information and using it to best guide the elders is where they see your leadership.”

Taking a deep breath to ponder, the robe clad speaker steps further back into the covering flora and reaches out to the wolf, exposing the first time a hand, not paw. Resting the furless appendage on the wolf’s shoulder, Palver continues.

“Your contribution to the Foundation has been invaluable. But, I always knew the risks of keeping you in the field. With your marriage to a former pack leader’s daughter being one, and now with three, beautiful kits, I expected this to happen.”

“Seldon predicted this?” Wolfert asks in surprise.

Palver chuckles. “The Seldon AI isn’t quite _that_ detailed. No. I could see this all on my own.”

The grey wolf nods, eyes casting down. “Then, I will accept the position and leave the Foundation.“

Suddenly looking up, eyes glassy with forming tears, Wolfert adds, “But, I will miss all of you.”

A visible smile forms on Palver’s face, and then falls as his hand moves from shoulder to cup the wolf on the side of his head; the smaller mammal’s eyes suddenly becoming unfocused.

“No...no, you will not. But, I will miss you, Adolfo Wolf of Earth,” the human sofly states, using the canis’ formal name.

“Be a great leader, mate, and father to your kits.”

Releasing his touch on the wolf’s cheek, Palver reaches up towards a pointed ear, relieving the canis of the hidden audio link and withdraws his arm, covering it again with his long robe. Turning away from the rock and celebrations, the human begins the trek back to base, leaving the wolf behind and soon out of view.

Moments later, Wolfert shakes his head, momentarily disoriented. Looking around, the wolf wonders how he came to stand where he was and why he was away from his pack. A dullness around that thought leaves him unworried, and shrugging his shoulders, he travels back, rejoining the others.

Now, outside of prying eyes or ears, Palver reaches up to nudge the transmitter contact from his own link.

“Base, Worlfert has been cleared and will be taking the role of pack leader. Please have the camels update Seldon. I want an analysis of projections when I return.”

Stopping and thinking for a moment, the human adds as he continues his steps.

“No. Change that. They can have a week…”


	2. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the early readers for your comments and kudos. The chapters are mostly all drafted, so they may show up fairly often. It depends on how much Arivelle likes them, or sends me back to try again :)
> 
> Time jump 480+ years in this chapter.
> 
> Lordy...

(Foundation Datestamp, 1992NT)

The walls of the decagonal room are black, yet bright and active. Each wall but one are ceiling to floor monitors that envelop the room in whites and colors. The lone exception is an inlet in the back of the room where a doorway breaks the continuous displays to allow ingress and egress, protected by an electronically locked door. 

In the center of the room stands a black column, approximately 1.5 meters in height that houses millions of lines of programming and drives the monitors, creating the living lines of colors that adorn the walls. Each line are thin, horizontal branches composed of formulas and symbols that stretch out and splinter into other branches of symbols, each representing general temporal predictions about future behavior of the Zootopian society.

This is the Seldon AI.

For nearly 2000 years, this artificial intelligence system, named after the great and long deceased, Hari Seldon, has received and interpreted events from cloaked drones, field reports, and other data gathering devices that continuously watch over the growing Zootopian society. The Seldon AI would digest all the information on cultural events and, using the ever expanding constructs of psychohistory, output the multitude of possible futures and statistical probabilities of occurrence. Mathematicians within the Foundation would then manipulate the data to determine the forces needed to “nudge” the society onto the most productive path.

The aforementioned mathematicians are currently embodied as two adult camels, one in his 40s, the other barely beyond his teens, as they sit in well-worn, camel comfort designed chairs in front of which reside a myriad of controls used to interface with the Seldon AI. More often than not, the chair inhabitants through the years were indeed camels. For after uplift, it was a great surprise to the humans that camels turned out to be some of the finest mathematicians on the planet.

Who would have guessed?

Normally, the general quiet of the room is interrupted only by the reactions of the camels to new or eliminated (greyed-out) branches as the mammals interpret and collaborate on the periodic updates provided by the Seldon AI. 

Today is different. 

The walls dance with changes as both camelids engage in excited chatter, adjusting parameters and subroutines to the forecasts, causing repeated updates to the walls as the Seldon AI recasts projections. Activity suddenly halts when the click of the electronic door release causes two dromedary heads to swivel and take note of the new entrant into the room. It wasn’t a very big surprise as to who would enter as access was generally limited to the camels, supporting technicians, some security and Palver.

“Good morning, Gemel, Hubby,” Pavler, with an early 30s appearance complete with dark hair and beard, greets. “You are both up early today.” 

Gemel, the elder camel, snorts a quick, laughing, “Good Morning, Leader” as the younger’s eyes get sharp.

“That’s Huby. Silent H, long U,” Huby retorts.

“Wiz kid here had some ideas last night that we wanted to kick around with Seldon this morning,” Gemel explains as he turns back towards the controls.

“Oh?” a dark eyebrow rises in curiosity as Palver moves a more human-sized appropriate chair over and sits down between the two camelids. “Whatcha got?”

“All yours, kid,” Gemel directs.

Huby looks nervously over at the other camel and then down towards the expectant human.

“Look, this is still kinda sketchy,” the young camel starts, gaining a dismissal wave of a hand.

“Don’t fret it. I get that this is spitballing,” Palver assures.

“Spitballing?” Huby asks and looks to his partner for understanding only to get a shrug.

Palver sighs. “Old habit. Means tossing stuff against the wall to see what sticks.”

“And you spit it there?!” the younger camelid exclaims, aghast. 

“Ugh… Just drop it. It sounds specist anyway with camels. Now, back to what you’re thinking.”

“Umm...ok,” Huby relents. “Well, Gemel was briefing me yesterday on the work he's been doing concerning the growing division between prey and predator.” 

“That’s been a recurring theme since uplift and the start of Zootopia,” Palver interjects.

“Well, yeah...true. But this trend seems different than the prior occurrences. The movement has more intensity and staying power,” the young camel relates, and then switches direction. “Are you familiar with the murder of a fox tailor five years back?”

The dark-haired human shakes his head for a moment, trying to follow the shift in thought. “What?” 

“He owned a shop in Foxtown,” Gemel adds. “He was killed by a prey gang, mostly Suidae.”

“Yep. Nasty pig group,” Huby clarifies. “They were trying to run a protection racket on the local business owners, and the tailor resisted.”

Palver pauses for a moment thinking. “It was shortly after my current regen, if I recall. The tailor was well liked in the community and his death created quite a stir. But, I don’t see the relevance--”.

“He was also a descendant of the original signer of the peace accord, Palver,” Gemel interrupts. “ZPD nabbed the gang, but they ended up with light sentences due to some string pulling by the Prey Defense League. That event was one of the causes for the formation of the Predator Rights Group, which is the genesis of the current pred/prey cycle.“

“OK. I get it. Both sides are getting more organized and things are heating up, hence the recent branches,” Palver agrees sitting up and waving his arm towards the lit walls around them. “But, this has happened before. What’s the new angle that has you two concerned?”

“The difference is the event occurred at a time when technology was accelerating, and messaging can reach the masses faster,” Huby states, taking the lead again. “With computers becoming commonplace in homes and TVs blaring agendas from the growing PRG and PDL ranks, information, true or false, is inundating the masses, and polarization is getting stronger, even with some religious groups taking sides now.”

“Foxes are red because they were created by the devil,” Gemel monotones, mocking common religious specism. “Vulpines are easy targets for the PDL when prey churches continue to spew that doctrine.“

The older camel then adds. “Five years of continual polarization, with both sides ratcheting up the rhetoric using the new media outlets, is stressing the central government. That’s what I was briefing the kid here yesterday when he tossed a couple of curves at me.” 

“What if we can’t ‘nudge’ society away from self-destruction, and the Zootopian government ends up being too ineffective to contain a breakdown this time?” Huby jumps in.

“And, that was curve one,” Gemel states.

Seconds pass in silence as the Foundation leader slumps back in his chair pondering. 

“OK. Now you have my attention,” leaning forward again. “So, in these latest models you’re testing the limits of the government’s cohesion?”

Gemel points up to the screen, tracing a path and branches. “I had been modeling the friction in society but always with the dampener of intervention, whether ZPD or Zootopian Defense Forces if things got out of hand. The kid pulled off the intervention under the premise that the government would also suffer the same internal pred vs prey struggle and deadlock.”

“The problem is: Seldon isn’t refuting it,” the older camel completes in a worried tone. “The ability of the opposing sides to blast their messages and polarize the citizens is allowing this path to exist, and the probability is growing.”

Palver sits back in his chair, pondering. “You said there was a second curve.”

Gemel nods and highlights a line of symbols on the screen. “Branch 4-2. What happens if the government fails and civil war occurs?”

The Foundation leader leans forward and studies the screen for a moment and then looks back towards the younger camel.

“The Commonwealth?” he poses with surprise.

“We measure the complexity of the Zootopian culture in detail,” Huby states, again getting excited. “But, the Rabbit Commonwealth is fairly simplistic...but large. That’s what brought us here this morning to model. Would the Commonwealth come out of their placid nature and not just stand by while Zootopia crumbles?”

Palver sits back again, exhaling slowly. “So, your premise is that the recent branches Seldon is tossing out are going to gain in probability to the point where something will cause predator and prey to break the central government and war on each other.”

Both camelids nod their heads.

“And if we fail to stop that,” Palver continues, “you’re proposing that the Rabbit Commonwealth would intercede, turning Zootopia into, what, a puppet state?”

“Seriously damaging if not eliminating the cultural development of the city, yes,” Gemel confirms.

“Why would they intercede? The Commonwealth is mostly self-sufficient.”

“To protect the prey from the predators?” Huby poses with a shrug. “Pure guess. Seldon isn’t being very helpful there.”

“I could understand why he’s being mute. These are a bunch of bunnies we're talking about.”

“Not all rabbits, Palver,” Gemel offers. “The Commonwealth is currently 98% lagomorphs, and that percentage is expected to drop over the next two to three decades.”

“Which is where Seldon is predicting the crisis,” Huby adds, adjusting controls to highlight the extension of the probability branch on the wall to their right.

Palver stands from his chair, crossing over to the spot on the wall that displays the predicted future events of 25 years out. A bright crossing of lines shows the expected crisis event resulting in the greying of a number of paths following and a bright path from below intersecting the crisis point and proceeding on.

“I see two issues with this,” Palver announces. “First, you need a leader to marshall a host of genetically and culturally passive lagomorphs. And second, you need a catalyst to cause the leader to want to send thousands of rabbits to certain death against the predators.”

Looking back down the wall towards the current day projections covering The Commonwealth, Palver then turns towards the mathematicians, “I would suspect this leader is quite young currently, or else Seldon would already be seeing cultural shift in The Commonwealth and displaying it here.”

“Whoever this leader might be, they would have to be a very unique bunny…”

\------------------------------------

Three male and two female kits crowd together next to the mother doe. A little smile grows on her grey furred face as she cleans each one, using her tongue in the old fashion way. 

“Stu!” she excitedly whispers to the red-flannel clad buck standing nearby. “I think one of the girls is opening her eyes!”

“Isn’t it a bit early, Bon?” Stuart Hopps asks, enthusiastically sliding over towards the bed where the mother doe and kits are huddled.

“Yes. It seems like we have an eager one,” Bonnie coos. “I can’t see. What color are her eyes?”

The buck leans over to get a better look and then smiles. “Amethyst, and as pretty as her mother’s,” he softly reports with love and then kisses the top of his wife’s head.

The kit doe suddenly yawns, eyes closing and then fluttering open once more. A smile now crosses her little face as if saying, “Hello, world. I’m here.”


	3. Partner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wildehopps time! 
> 
> Finally, after two chapters, the heroes of Zootopia are on the scene, complete with a needed dose of fluff and angst.
> 
> This takes place following the museum incident, with Judy already receiving aid for her injury. A few (really great) authors have scripted the time period right after the capture of Bellweather previously. So, I'm skipping over that part.
> 
> Time jump +24 years since the last chapter (Judy's age as of the movie).

(Foundation Datestamp, 2016NT)

_Where is she?_ Nick laments internally as he paces in the waiting room between his abandoned chair and the door leading to the ER center.

_OK, Wilde. Just relax. They’re just being typically slow,_ The tod tries to privately soothe himself as he nervously marches back and forth.

_She’ll be out soon. It’s just some stitches. She was fine besides that._

Nick’s attempts to join her since returning from retrieving the Hopps family truck were repeatedly rebuffed at the front desk by a serious-looking, alpaca head nurse. Since he wasn’t family or police, the vicugna wasn’t about to bend the rules for him.

Of course being a fox didn’t help, he also surmised by the repeated disgusted looks he would receive from her.

Shaking his head, Nick halts his pacing and looks up at the TV monitor mounted high on the wall. The normal programming had been interrupted 20 minutes earlier with the breaking news about Bellweather’s arrest. Chief Bogo’s face currently fills the screen as he stands behind the newsroom podium at ZPD HQ and briefly relates events that occurred, confirming that Officer Hopps had been involved.

_Officer Hopps? Not civilian Judy Hopps?_ Nick notes with a smile quickly growing on his face. _Carrots will be very happy to hear that Buffalo Butt has somehow kept her on the roster._

Breaking from the interview, the shot switches to the ZNN studio where the current anchors toss in their commentary. Between the two, a pop-up of Judy is displayed, her ZPD Academy graduation photo quickly dug up from their archives showing her in formal blues with a full toothy smile, ears held high and eyes sparkling. A perfect picture of optimism and energy that defines Judy Hopps.

Nick’s heart skips a beat at the photo.

_She’s beautiful…_

_Wait! Where the hell did that come from?! _Nick asks internally as his eyes go wide and ears splay out.

Rubbing a front paw over his head and ears, the vulpin lets out a slow breath, trying to center himself.

_OK. Let’s forget about those thoughts. She’s just my friend after all and a bunny, and foxes and bunnies…_

Thankfully, the internal argument is interrupted by the automated opening of the ER room door through which a small wheelchair is about to pass. An elevated rabbit’s foot, the first thing Nick sees, is soon followed by the rest of Judy, being pushed by an orderly.

As she passes into the room, Nick notices that an anxious and worried look on the bunny’s face suddenly lights up into that same, full toothy smile when she spots him.

Two skips of heartbeats, this time.

_Knock it off, Wilde! We’re foxes and bunnies… Foxes and bunnies...._

Nick’s internal mantra is cut short by the object of his self-assured non-affection.

“Nick! You’re back already!” Judy exclaims, the smile getting impossibly bigger.

“Why, of course I am! Retrieving your parents’ truck was no problem, and how could I leave my crime-fighting superbunny alone in this sterile and unfriendly establishment?” Nick snarks with a look up towards the front desk; where he receives a snort from the alpaca nurse as she turns away to get discharge papers.

“Well, I am very happy you are. I was worried that the truck might have been towed or that you wouldn’t get back in time,” Judy responds, standing from the wheelchair to sign the papers for her release.

“Perish the thought, Fluff. Or, should I say _Officer_ Hopps?” Nick asks with emphasis on the title.

Ears shooting upwards and eyes wide, the shocked look on the bunny’s face causes Nick to laugh.

“What did you hear?!” she exclaims.

Waiving a paw towards the TV monitor, the tod relates what he’s seen on the news coverage.

“And you just casually mention that?” the question coming with a deserved punch to the shoulder.

“First of all, Oww! Secondly, I suspect that ol’ Buffalo Butt made the comment to cover ZPD’s backside. They couldn’t easily state that some vigilante bunny just rode into town and uncovered a terrorist plot by the recently installed mayor. Now, can they?” Nick explains while rubbing the offended shoulder with his opposite front paw.

“No, I suppose not,” Judy relents as she sits down in the wheelchair as the orderly begins pushing her towards the exit.

“So, how’s the leg?” Nick asks as he walks alongside.

“Twelve stitches,” the doe responds, ears falling. “For the next two weeks, I’m allowed to walk on it, just not very far, and they want me on crutches for any greater distance.”

“No worries there,” he states as the orderly brings them to the door, hands the crutches to Nick and bids them farewell. “I found a nice spot nearby in the garage.”

Handing the keys and crutches over to Judy, Nick swiftly lifts her from the ground, princess style, gaining an “eep” from the grey doe, and steps out…

…into a throng of news reporters.

“Office Hopps! How does it feel to have arrested a second mayor in as many months?”

“Do you feel that you’ve made up for the previous strife you created between preds and prey by arresting the mayor?”

“How badly are you hurt?”

“Who is this fox, and why is he carrying you?”

The last question being asked by a sow with an appalled look on her face.

Both rabbit and fox have frozen, shocked looks on their faces as the rapid fire questions continue. Soon, hospital security steps in to open a path, allowing the pair to escape the throng and flee towards the nearby parking garage. Clearing the garage threshold, Nick sets Judy back to the ground, handing her the crutches as security holds back any pursuing reporters.

“Well that was...unexpected,” Nick comments sarcastically.

“I wonder how they knew where I was?” Judy ponders setting herself on the crutches.

“I suspect some leak from the staff, I’m sure. Once Bogo confirmed you were responsible for mayor number two being led away in cuffs, somebody in the hospital probably posted that they saw you on their Furbook page or something like that.”

Hobbling on crutches towards the truck, Judy finally halts. Reaching into the back bed, she places the crutches in it. Nick then goes to help her into the truck before she suddenly stops and turns towards the tod.

“Nick?” Judy asks, a burning question on her mind.

“Yeah, Carrots?”

“What are your plans from here?”

The red-furred mammal stands quietly before her, mouth slightly opened as if waiting to say something that his brain hasn’t generated yet.

“Uhhh…well, I didn’t really have any plans other than getting you the truck.”

“Were you just going to leave me then?” she asks, a small hitch in her voice.

_Oh, boy. What do I do now? I…don’t want her to leave. But, she has a future again, and I..._

Slumping his shoulders, the tod closes his eyes briefly and then looks down at the awaiting doe.

“Look, Judy,” he starts, gaining a small gasp from doe at the use of her name. “You know what I am, what I do. It probably wouldn’t be a great idea for ZPD's stellar officer to be seen hanging around a career con-mammal.”

Nodding slightly and somewhat expecting the answer, Judy looks back up at the tod.

“But, what if you weren’t?”

Before the vulpin can respond, Judy cuts him off.

“When we solved the missing mammals case, and I mean WE, I asked if you would consider being my partner and then ruined it by saying some of the most small-minded, irresponsible and speciest things to the press. I still hate what I did and how it hurt you.”

“I already forgave you for that, Judy. You were set up. We both see that now,” Nick consoles.

“Still. I did it. And because of that, I left the ZPD and ran home with my ‘fuzzy-wuzzy little tail between my legs’,” Judy says imitating Nick’s speech pattern. “If it wasn’t for Gideon Grey giving me the insight as to what was happening, I would still be at the farm stand, wrapping carrots in newspaper and lamenting over what I did to you,” Judy continues in a small voice, looking down.

Drawn like a magnet, Nick steps closer to the bunny, now within paw’s reach.

“I guess what I am asking is, if I promise to not repeat my stupidity at the next interview, of which I’m sure the ZPD will require me to join,” looking up now with a hopeful expression, “would you consider being my partner again?”

As hard as he tried, Nick couldn’t find any inner calm amidst his hard-beating heart.

_Oh Geeze… Foxes and bunnies… This is bad, Wilde._

His con-mammal mask in pieces, he finally nods and then finds his torso wrapped in soft, bunny arms.

“Thank you” he hears, her voice muffled by the thick fur beneath his shirt.

His own arms wrapped around her now, the tod breathes in her scent.

_She smells nice...Wait! No! No! No! Don’t think about that._

More heartbeats pass before he realizes that she’s not letting go yet.

“Uhhh, Carrots?”

“Please, Nick. I need this.” Judy responds, still holding him tight, and to his surprise, he finds himself hugging her tighter.

_She also has nice, soft fur too._

_Nope! Not going there. Foxes and bunnies. I’m just holding my friend who needs some support, which is why my tail is now...curled...around her legs. DAMMIT!_

Nick closes his eyes again and takes in another deep breath of the sweet smell of her scent which is quickly becoming an addictive drug to the tod.

_Face it Wilde, you got it really, really bad for her. That little bunny has hustled you again._

It was her sudden ear raising that snaps Nick from his epiphany of woe and causes the tod to do a quick scan around the vehicles nearby. A shadow shifts, and a sheep steps out from between two cars, approaching the pair with a crazed look in his eyes.

“Bellweather was right, rabbit. All predators are dangerous and need to be collared and muzzled. But, you stopped her.”

Fox and bunny break from their hug to turn towards the sheep.

“And then, you sicko, I find you standing here hugging a pelt,” the venom aimed at Judy.

Nick’s blood goes cold as his eyes suddenly catch a flash of metal as the sheep approaches. Years on the street tell him exactly what he’s seeing. All of his life, the tod has kept a strict policy of a speedy withdrawal from dangerous situations. But before his history can kick in, an internal voice overrides with a yell of:

_“PROTECT!”_

Pushing Judy behind the truck for safety, Nick jumps at the sheep, claws deployed. The first swipe hits the ram’s arm gaining a screaming bleat as the pistol becomes fully exposed. The follow-up swipe is interrupted as the concussion noise from the gun’s firing at such a close range, jarring the fox.

The third swipe leaves the sheep weaponless and bloodied.

Security guards swiftly close on the combatants, disabling the ram as Nick spins around to find Judy standing and staring.

“Are you OK?!” he anxiously yells, only to be greeted with a mouth open with surprise and a front paw raised at him.

It’s at this point that the reports start coming into his brain, and the fox looks down in fear towards where Judy is pointing.

His Pawaiin shirt is stained dark red in the lower abdomen.

Sitting down hard next to the front wheel of the truck, Nick places his paw over the shirt and feels the spreading wetness of blood as it pours from the bullet’s entry.

Looking up at the approaching bunny, Nick states in sadness, “Carrots, I’m sorry. But, I’m afraid I might have to withdraw my offer to join you.”

Before pain and blackness overtake him, he feels his head cradled in soft-furred paws and hears a sobbing lament.

“No! Nick, noooo! I just got you back!”

“I just...got...you...back…”


	4. Catalyst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued thanks for your comments and thoughts.
> 
> This chapter is a continuation of the previous in timeline. No time jumping.

“Palver, We need you in here!” The announcement by the aged voice of Gemel over the intercom of the Foundation base requires no further information than the six words provided. “Here” can only mean the decagonal control room of the Seldon AI.

Less than a minute later, the click of the door release is followed by swift entry of the Foundation leader, who again carries the image of a man in his early-30s, even though the camels manning the control stations are now in their 40s and 60s.

“What’s wrong?” the dark-haired human asks, and then stops in shock as he scans the projection walls. Many of the previously active probability lines have turned grey with new branches forming in angry hues of red.

“Seldon is flipping his shit!” Huby yells over his shoulder, followed by, “No! No! Stinging Sands, Seldon! That’s a main line! You can’t take them all!”

On the projection wall, another probability forecast line and branches suddenly grey out as the percentage goes to zero.

“Bellweather?” Palver questions.

“No,” comes the response from the older camel, his muzzle shot with grey matching much of his fur. “We were here already working through the arrest when another report arrived about a shooting at Savanna General Hospital. Right after that, Seldon started invalidating a number of forecasts.”

Sliding into a third control chair sized for a human, Palver brings the monitors online.

“What do we know about the shooting?” the human asks as he begins manipulating readouts and reports.

“Something about a fox being shot at Savanna General,” Gemel answers again, and then sucks in his breath. “Oh no!”

“Blistering sands!” Huby swears as another main forecast branch goes grey. “We just lost the Zootopia central government!”

“How far out?” Palver asks quickly, now locally displaying recent input to Seldon.

“A year to fourteen months!” Huby shoots back. “Branch 4-2 just went to 65% probability based on the fox’s death.”

“OK. I got it here now,” Palver announces. “Assailant was a sheep…JUDY!” 

Both camels halt and turn towards the human.

“What?” Gemel asks.

“Judy Hopps was there…at the shooting,” Palver answers, manipulating local feeds to his monitor.

“Really? We had written her off as the leader of 4-2 when the whole Missing Mammal fiasco came up six weeks ago. We were focusing on that striped bunny after that,” Huby interjects.

“There was no report of a rabbit being hurt, though,” the younger camel adds as Palver continues to review input feeds.

Suddenly, the human starts swearing, then falls silent. 

“You would think after two-thousand years, I would be better at this,” Palver says quietly as he slumps back in his chair.

“Chief?” Gemel asks softly, his voice a little raspy with age.

“Let me have control,” Palver instructs sitting back up, and with a push of a switch, Huby clears the nine walls sending control to the human.

“The Missing Mammal case. The media interviews with ZPD when Judy spoke. There was an incident right after that. Here.”

The wall to the left of the camels suddenly displays a video showing a long shot of Judy arguing with a fox who suddenly storms away from her and towards the camera.

“Hold!” Palver commands, showing a close up of the vulpin. “ID him.”

Gemel begins working his local counsel. 

“I’m getting a report. Small time hustler. Possible crime connections. Sometimes on the ZPD watch, but generally not important…Aw crap, Palver. He’s a Wilde, first name Nicholas. Goes by Nick.”

A second wall screen lights up now showing a security camera shot of Judy standing by a truck clearly labeled “Hopps Family Farm” chatting with a fox in the hospital parking lot. Although more grainy, the fox’s features are clear enough.

“ID him, although I’m going to guess this is Nick.”

Gemel again manipulates his local controls, then turns towards the human and nods slowly.

“Watch the video,” Palver then instructs, unfreezing the frame.

Silent moments tick by before Gemel announces, “That’s…a long hug.”

“That’s a really long hug,” Huby agrees.

Shortly after, the sheep comes into view and the struggle occurs resulting in Nick’s shooting, and a sobbing Judy is clearly seen cradling the fox before first responders pull her away to begin administering aid. A gurney is swiftly rolled into the video, and the vulpin is whisked away while Judy, head down and ears flat against her back is still sobbing. A nurse then takes her out of view.

“Shit.” Huby summarizes as the videos go dark.

“Agreed,” Palver concedes. “What’s his status?”

Gemel turns back to his console for a moment. 

“Still in surgery,” he reports.

“Well, that’s a hopeful start,” the leader comments as he reaches over to a speaker pad to the left of his chair. Punching a button, he connects to the MedLab.

“Rocky, Gemel has a link into SGH surgery. They’re working on a fox currently. Gunshot victim. Would you please use that link to monitor the situation and then report to me after he is out of surgery?”

Getting an “affirmative” response, the dark-haired human sits back in his chair, letting out a slow breath.

“Guys, help me here as it’s been a regen ago. Didn’t we have a chat about a tailor being murdered whose last name was Wilde?” 

Gemel nods, working his counsel as the walls light up again with Seldon’s projections. 

“Robert Wilde, known as Robin, and, of course, father of Nicholas.”

“Right. Of course,” Palver parrots. “And there was a widow, Nick’s mom. Still alive?”

More counsel work by the elder camel. “Yes. Marian. Lives alone in Foxtown.”

“Two thousand years, and I still get this so wrong,” the human says shaking his head. “We kept looking for the reason why a leader from the Commonwealth would bring in an army of rabbits to save the prey of Zootopia, when the prey already outnumber predators ten to one.”

Palver shakes his head and continues his monologue.

“What we have here is a fox, who for some reason befriended a rookie rabbit cop and helped her solve one of the biggest cases in recent Zootopian history. Then, shortly thereafter, they have a falling out, and he leaves her.”

“Whereupon, she exits to Bunnyburrow,” Gemel interjects, gaining a nod from the human.

“Six weeks later, they show up, paired again to solve an even greater crime of terrorism, resulting in the imprisonment of a second mayor. Somehow, they got back together, put their fight behind them, pulled off a miracle…and fell in love,” the Foundation leader narrates as he pushes a button. On the wall before them now, a grey-haired bunny hugs a red fox. 

“Never is a long time.” Palver chuckles softly while shaking his head, gaining a confused look from the camels. 

“Sorry. Just something I mentioned to a friend once.”

Huby interrupts. “I’ll grant it’s a hug. But, isn’t it a bit of a stretch to call it love? I mean, she’s a bunny, and he’s a fox?” 

Gemel snorts. “You’re such a romantic, kid.”

Palver points to the wall. “Look how deeply her face is pressed into him. How tightly she’s holding him. And more importantly, look at his tail. They might as well have exchanged rings right there.”

Huby studies the frozen image on the screen. “So, you’re proposing that Judy is indeed the leader and Nick is the catalyst whose death will cause her to raise an army from the Commonwealth once civil war breaks out?”

“Not quite,” Palver corrects. “We have been looking at this all wrong. Seldon invalidated the forecasts and started to project doom for Zootopia when he received that security camera recording of the shooting. Because, he figured it out.”

“She’s in love with Nick,” Palver continues, stating the fact as if it was a universal truth. “Both of you have been analyzing the fall of the government for a long time. Which species will be hurt first when violence starts, perhaps outside of Little Rodentia?”

“The foxes,” Huby responds, Gemel nodding.

“Right. The Prey Defense League and Predator Rights Group have been going at it for decades now despite our nudgings, with the PDL all but vilifying foxes. So when the violence starts, Foxtown becomes ground zero. And, where is mother Wilde?”

“Foxtown,” Gemel again confirms, catching the gist.

“I’ll lay odds that Marian and Judy don’t know each other right now. It’s probably too early for Nick to have taken his girlfriend home to meet mom. But if Nick doesn’t survive, there will be a spectacular wake. I’m sure the PRG will insist on it. Judy’s love and guilt from the shooting will turn into a sense of duty to the poor mother.”

“What about the mother’s feelings in all this?” Gemel counters, “Husband and son killed by prey animals, you’d think she’d show Judy the door and slam it behind her.”

“This is a bunny that charmed a fox and most of Zootopia, Gemel, and a mother known for being an advocate against the prey vs pred rhetoric. I think Marian will take one look at Judy, see the pain and love there, and form a bond that won’t be broken. Having lost a husband and son, she’s going to embrace a daughter.” 

“Meanwhile, the PRG is going to be looking for that sheep’s head for killing a direct descendant of the signer of the peace treaty, the second in that family to be murdered by prey. They’ll turn Nick into a martyr and use his death as the reason for all sorts of demands along their agenda. The Prey Defense League will fight back with everything they have, and with both elected mayor and assistant mayors in jail, there will not be a duly elected leader of Zootopia to stop the internal governmental arguments that will mirror the PRG/PDL struggle, leaving them powerless to stop what will degrade into violence and civil war.”

Standing from his chair, Palver begins to pace as he continues his analysis.

“When the prey descend on Foxtown, Marian will turn to Judy Hopps for protection, if Judy hasn’t already secreted her away, which is exactly why we’ve been wrong.”

Turning towards the camels, the Foundation leader declares. “Nick isn’t the catalyst. Marian is.”

Both camels now look with stunned expressions at the human.

“Marian will be safe in Bunnyburrow, but will lament over the woe being brought on her friends and family. She probably has a sister or brother in Foxtown, right?” Palver asks to Gemel who quickly does a search.

“Sister,” he confirms to a nodding Palver.

“So Judy, still mourning over the loss of her fox love, is going to be repeatedly reminded and outraged by the abuses being unfairly perpetrated by the PDL on what should have been her extended family.”

“She’ll want to stop it,” Gemel interjects.

“Yep. Her mourning will turn to anger, and the army she’s going to raise won’t be arriving to protect the prey,” Palver asserts. “It’s to protect the foxes.”

“So, my dear mammals, what’s the impact on the ten-to-one advantage of prey to predator, when a half-million or more armed lagomorphs suddenly show up in Zootopia led by a furious bunny intent on crushing the PDL under her hind paws?”

Before an answer could be given, the electronic door latch releases, and led by one of the control room technicians, a racoon, slightly over a meter tall with slight greying around his muzzle, enters wearing medical clothing.

“He’s alive and out of surgery,” Rocky states. “But, there’s a problem.”


	5. Revelations

Two seated camels and one standing human face a racoon in stereotypical medical scrubs as silence falls heavily following the declaration of “a problem” by the Procyonidae.

“OK, Doc. Beyond the fact that Nick was shot, what other problem is there?” Palver asks.

The physician walks towards the chair the Foundation leader had just abandoned and hops up to sit on it. 

“The entry and exit were clean, no vital organs hit. But...the bullet was dirty.”

Two camels glance at each other, shaking their heads as the human’s eyebrows furrow.

“Poison?”

The racoon nods. “I managed to see the toxicology report. It was inconclusive, but it’s obvious from the fox’s vitals something is putting a strain on his system. Even the hacks at SGH know it’s got to be poison.”

“Do they have a prognosis?” Palver asks.

“At the rate of deterioration, twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The fox is strong--”

“Nick,” Palver interrupts. “His name is Nick.”

“Right, Nick is strong,” the physician amends. “But, if they don’t find a counteragent, it won’t matter.”

“What’s your feeling on this, Doc?” The inquiry continues.

“With an empty toxicology report, I’d say they’re shooting in the dark. Unless they can get lucky, within twelve hours, the fo...Nick may begin to suffer permanent damage. I don’t know for sure.”

Palver begins pacing, internally struggling with the problem. Looking up at the walls with all the grayed lines and angry reds, he studies it briefly before turning to face the seated racoon.

“May I have my chair back, please?” the Foundation leader asks, and Rocky quickly jumps to the floor.

Taking his chair again, Palver looks to Huby, “Control please.”

A swipe of a switch and the room goes dark other than the glow from the chair monitors. 

“I’m nocturnal by nature, and I still hate how dark this room is at times,” Rocky remarks as the walls suddenly light up again.

“Better?” Palver asks, gaining a chuckle from the doctor. 

Meanwhile, Huby intently scans the walls as greyed lines go bright with the angry red lines dissipating. Taking in a sharp breath, the camel challenges, “What did you do?” 

“Nick,” comes the one word answer. Then turning towards the bewildered raccoon, he adds, “Can you save him?”

Eyes widen, taking over much of the black mask on the doctor’s face.

“Not there! If he was in MedLab, perhaps. I have much better diagnostic tools than SGH.”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Whoa, chief!” Huby interrupts. “Extraction is more than a nudge! We could get exposed pulling that stunt.”

“Which would result in the collapse of the Zootopian society were they to realize that their future has always been contrived,” Palver completes, manipulating the wall controls again and redisplaying the greyed lines. “But, look at your projections, Huby. We’re going to lose it anyway.”

“Besides, I may have some ‘voodoo’ left that could minimize the damage,” Palver includes with a chuckle.

Turning to the racoon, the Foundation leader instructs, “Get your medkit together. I’ll inform security that we’re going to perform an extraction and get them to set plans.”

Looking at the control board, the human continues. “The sun just set, and traffic is going to lighten shortly. We’ll move in two hours.”

Standing up and ushering the physician towards the doorway, Palver turns back to the camels before exiting. “I’ll need you two as eyes on cameras the whole way. Keep in touch with me via audiolink.”

“Wish you had retired now?” Huby asks the older camel as he again takes control of the screens.

Gemel snorts, “Not a chance...but check with me again after this is all over.”

A flip of controls, and the walls clear of projections, replaced now with live camera feeds from Savana General and multiple points along the road as cloaked drones begin lifting off and reporting.

\----------------

The padded bench in the waiting room was built for much larger mammals than a lagomorph, making the current inhabitant look even smaller as she sits up but curled up in a ball, forehead on knees, front paws hugging legs, and long, grey ears laying over them. Long since cried out, the doe sits quietly in the corner of the bench, wondering why fate would be so cruel to give her what she so desperately wanted only to steal him away again.

She just wanted to make the world a better place. Should she be so punished for that?

The shadow that casts over her is unnoticed, but bunny ears detect the steps. Raising her head slightly, her red, damp eyes glance upwards and recognizes the eclipsing mammal, a female tiger in ZPD blues.

“Officer Hopps, how are you doing?” Nadine Fangmeyer asks softly.

Judy slowly uncurls, allowing her feet to dangle from the too-big bench and faces the officer. “I’m fine,” she responds, her words failing to hide a voice steeped in anger and pain.

The doe’s temperament was not lost on the Tigress. It wasn’t the first time she approached the worried and strained, anxiously waiting for news to come through the hospital door. It was one of the drawbacks of being a cop, needing to talk to people at their most vulnerable.

“Mind if I sit down?”

A brief hesitation, and a small nod is given from the doe; whereupon, the tigress sits down on the bench between the bunny and the passing hallway.

“They wouldn’t let you in, huh?” Nadine asks in a tone barely above a whisper.

A shake of the head is accompanied by an intake and shudder of breath. 

“No visitors in ICU,” Judy responds in a voice hoarse from crying. “And, I’m not family.”

Standing up briefly, the tigress walks over to a water dispenser and fills a paper cup suitable for a small mammal. Returning with the cool liquid, she hands the cup to the doe, gaining a whispered “Thanks”.

Taking a much needed drink, Judy sits the cup down on an end table next to her, and stretches while seated, her posture appreciating the action and returning to something closer to normal than the previous slump position it was in.

“Want to tell me what happened?” Fangmeyer offers, and then adds. “I saw the security video. Wolford and I secured a copy of it after the shooting and turned it over to ZPD for evidence before he was called away on something personal. Chief Bogo then sent me here to get your official statement, but it’s mostly a formality. Actually, I think it was secretly code for me to come be with you.”

A short, watery laugh comes from the doe before front paws again grab folded legs. Several heartbeats of silence pass, before she finds her voice.

“So this is what it feels like to be on the other end? It’s not about who it happened to or how they are doing, just state what happened.”

Fangmeyer was unperturbed, a little lamenting was always expected in these kind of situations.

The tigress shrugs. “You know the procedure, we’ll need your statement for the record, but I don’t have to be Officer Fangmeyer the whole time. For this conversation, I can be Nadine.”

A slight shift on the bench, and Nadine softens her voice again as she turns towards the doe. “Why don’t you tell me about your friend?”

Judy pauses for a moment in thought. 

“Nick Wilde is…incredible. We would have been killed in the museum if it wasn’t for his quick thinking. It was all his idea.”

Nadine waited patiently. More would come…

A deep, hitching bunny breath, and the words start spilling out.

“He didn’t have to help me. I had hurt him so much with my small-minded ignorance. The hateful, anti-predator words that just tumbled out of me. I was such a dumb bunny.”

Realizing she was talking to a predator, the bunny suddenly looks up embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Nadine.”

The tigress smiles. “It’s OK, Judy. I understand. You were put into a bad situation without any support.”

“Thank you,” Judy says softly and hugs her legs again, taking a deep breath.

“Yet even with all that, he helped me. He didn’t have to. He could have told me to go away, hated me for me the rest of his life. He had the right to. But...he didn’t. Without his quick thinking, I would be dead, he’d be savage, and all the predators would still be getting targeted by that awful Bellweather. And what thanks does he get for helping me? For helping all of us? Shot in a parking garage.”

“What happened in there, Judy?” Nadine asks after a silent pause between them.

Tears start flowing again from the bunny’s eyes, wetting her knees as she hugs her legs closer again.

“He was there for me, again. Retrieved my truck that I drove all the way here to find him, and then sat here, in this same room, waiting for me. Saved me from the crowd of reporters that wanted to ask all those hateful questions again. I just couldn’t face them, and Nick, thankfully, whisked me away.”

“We were talking, in the garage. I asked him for his plans. He…he said he didn’t have any, but didn’t think it wise to be around me, as his vocation is a little, well, shady,” Judy relates with a watery chuckle at the end.

“I asked him to stay and be my partner again. That I promised not to be such a dumb bunny and to never say those stupid, stupid words ever again if he would reconsider…and he agreed.”

“And then that sheep showed up…"

“I didn’t even see the gun. Nick somehow noticed it, and moved so quickly, I didn’t know what was happening. He pushed me behind the truck to save me, and then attacked the sheep. It happened so fast, Nadine.”

“I heard the gun go off and looked at Nick. I didn’t think he was hurt as he was still fighting the sheep. His claws were out and the sheep was bleeding from the cuts. Finally, the security came over and tackled the sheep. Nick turned to see if I was OK. And then, I saw his shirt.”

“He was bleeding. I could see the hole in his shirt. He’ll never be my partner after this. If he lives--”

Any further words were erased when the sobbing started again. 

Feeling bad for the doe, the tigress scooped the bunny to her side, holding her close.

“Judy, no gun shot is going to stop that fox from being your partner. Love like that doesn’t quit.”

Judy’s crying suddenly stops, her eyes shooting up at the tigress.

“What do you mean?”

Fangmeyer laughs. “You don’t know, do you? Freddie and I saw the tape, and my partner is a wolf. He caught it immediately.”

“Caught what?” Judy asked.

“The tail, girl! He was wrapping your legs with his tail. Canines only do that to those very special to them,” the tigress informs, a huge smile forming on her lips.

“He’s fallen for you, hard.”


	6. Extraction

A half-hour after their chat, the tigress and doe remain on the padded bench awaiting word. Nadine Fangmeyer looks down towards the bunny and smiles as she feels slight twitches from the rabbit, indicating that Judy had fallen asleep.

_You’ve had a busy day, bunny. You deserve the rest,_ Nadine thinks.

A commotion occurs down the hall leading to the ER, which causes the officer to lean forward to look out the doorway. Suddenly a mammal in uniform flashes by before a gurney slides past being pushed by a Snow Leopard flanked by other mammals not in medical garb, and trailed by a doctor and a tall mammal wearing a long robe, covering all his features.

The strangeness of the group and the shocking familiarity of the uniformed officer alams the tigress, but before she can move, a feeling of tranquility overcomes her, eliminating any concern over the events. Sitting back now, Nadine relaxes as noise and activity continues in the ICU.

However, that same feeling of ease fails to manifest in the other inhabitant of the bench, as the banging of the door and noise of activity within the quiet ward causes Judy to rouse and look around.

“Nadine? What’s going on?” the doe asks, only to quickly realize that the tigress is unresponsive.

“Fangmeyer?” she tries louder to no effect.

Lowering herself to the floor, the doe limps into the hallway as moments later the doors fly open, this time with a red-furred occupant on the gurney and escorted by the same group as before. Leading the collection is a grey wolf in ZPD uniform whose eyes widen at the same time as the doe’s, who is standing in the way.

“Wolford?” Judy asks in surprise.

\---------------------

(15 minutes earlier)

The black van silently glides along the road, make and model identical to current designs; although, the inside is not. For one thing, monitors on one wall in the back relay surrounding images from cloaked drones escorting the vehicle.

For another, there doesn’t appear to be a driver.

Arrayed in the rear of the van, one ZPD officer, two Foundation security guards, a raccoon in medical garb and a dark robed human sit on benches on each side of a gurney as they discuss the plan for abducting the patient.

“When we pull in front of the ER doors, we need to move quickly but silently towards Intensive Care. Don’t pay attention to any of the mammals we run across. I need them to be the least agitated as possible,” Palver instructs.

“What are you going to do?” Wolford asks.

“A little voodoo as an ancestor of yours once labeled it. He was reading the archives and came across the reference. It just stuck with him after that.”

“In short,” Palver continues to explain, “I’m going to cast a feeling of calm and lack of concern on the local mammals. For the medical group, I’m going to place a thought that Nick has been transferred to a high security medical facility. That should create enough of a cover for confusion and finger pointing as to who actually has him to buy us some time.”

“That’s quite a trick!” Wolford exclaims.

“It takes a lot of concentration,” Palver responds. “So, I would appreciate it if everyone attends to their roles and only interrupt me if something goes against plan.”

A beep from the front indicates that the van is approaching the hospital, and the group readies themselves.

“And keep an eye out for Judy. I suspect she’ll be somewhere around here,” the human instructs.

Wolford’s eyes go narrow with concern. “Why?”

“Because,” Palver explains, “I think she’s going to be a key in helping us fix this mess.”

A second beep, and the van comes to a halt. Back doors opening, the two security officers, a snow leopard and a Lynx, lower the gurney to the ground as Palver and Wolford jump off, followed finally by Rocky.

A hospital security guard approaches the van only to suddenly halt and turn away, returning to his post with a faraway look in his eyes.

“That’s…convenient, Palver” Wolford notes, getting a shushing noise from the human.

“I need to concentrate,” the leader states, his eyebrows furrowing.

Silently and swiftly, the group enters through the automatic doors and heads towards the surgical IC center.

Passing by the waiting area, Palver feels a tigress sitting in the room and applies the same treatment as the rest. Moving past, all fail to notice a water cup sitting on the other side of the bench sized too small for the tigress, or that the feline is sitting towards the middle of the bench.

Once inside the IC unit, a quick scan of the room locates Nick, who is attached to the series of monitors and IVs.

“Doc?” Palver asks, and the raccoon begins delivering orders.

Lifting the fox gently, the snow leopard and lynx transfer the vulpin to their gurney as Rocky disconnects and silences the monitors and alarms. Around them, the staff continue their duties unaffected by the activity of the Foundation group. Looping the IV line around the gurney post to keep it from snagging, the doctor instructs Wolford to lead them out, the recovery room team paying no attention to their passage.

Striking the control to open the doors, Wolford steps through the opening passage to the hallway…

...which is now blocked by a grey bunny who is favoring her right leg.

“Wolford?" Judy asks in surprise.

“Uh...Palver,” the canis announces, stopping the group. “I think we’ve found her.”

Sighing, the Foundation leader steps forward, now seeing the doe and the waiting room situation.

“I didn’t feel you earlier. You must have been shadowed by that tigress,” Palver calmly states. “But, I’ve always had problems with rabbits.”

“Oh, nuts! That’s my partner Nadine, Palver,” Wolford quietly exclaims. “She’s not going to remember this, is she?”

“No. She’s unaware of events,” Palver answers before turning his attention to the doe.

“And you, my dear bunny, need to take a nap.”

Judy’s eyes roll up, eyelids closing as she begins to topple. Swiftly, Wolford grabs her before she falls, lifting her in his arms.

“Now what?” the grey wolf asks.

“Bring her with us,” the Foundation leader says with assurity as he leads the group out of the ward and back to the awaiting van.

\-----------------------

Minutes after the van pulls away, Nadine Fangmeyer shakes her head as if clearing a stray thought. With Nick transferred and Judy accompanying him, there was little reason for her continued presence in the waiting room. The fact that Nick was transferred or that she was still in the waiting room somehow never bothers her, and the fact that it should is quickly dismissed in her mind.

Standing and stretching, the tigress disposes of the water cup left behind by Judy. After considering how to report the events to Bogo, she decides that it’s too unimportant to bother the Chief directly, but rather she would just submit it in her report tomorrow.

As she steps out of the waiting room to leave, Nadine catches a scent of her ZPD partner nearby. Looking around confused, she sees no grey wolf nor any indication that he was there. Shaking her head, she briefly sniffs her uniform arm to see if there was any lingering scent there, for their closeness while watching the security video may have caused him to rub on her.

Not that she’d mind that, of course. For inside, Nadine had long wondered how it would feel for Freddie’s tail to be coiled around her legs...


	7. Doctor

The ordinarily quiet halls of the Foundation, especially now with evening well underway, is shattered with the commotion of a rushing group of mammals and the clattering wheels of a swiftly moving gurney. The racoon physician, Rocky, having taken a trailing role during the Extraction, is now leading the group rapidly through the tiled and featureless hallways towards the MedLab, his home turf. Once through the doors, the banded mammal begins spewing out orders to an awaiting group of two med techs and a surgical nurse.

Transferred to the MedLab bed, active sensors detect the presence of a new patient, and monitors automatically fire to life, providing pertinent information on the status of the tod. Donning gloves, the doctor takes the already prepared needle from the nearby nurse, and extracts a small vial of blood, stoppers it, and hands it to the nearest medical technician.

“Get this to Bovid quickly, and tell that layabout of an ibex that he has 15 minutes to sequence that toxin, or else I’m coming over to bite him!” the doctor yells at a female med tech as she quickly scoots out the door to the lab across the hallway.

Having trailed the team previously into the room, a grey wolf stands quietly with an unconscious bunny still cradled in his arms. Seeing a break in the room’s momentum, the canis clears his throat, gaining the doctor’s attention.

“Oh, right, the bunny. Put her in the next station,” Rocky orders, and then turning towards the tall human who to this point was quietly waiting by the doorway, the physician challenges, “I don’t know why you had to bring her here.”

Shrugging broad shoulders, the human replies, “I’m playing a hunch, Doc.”

“Hunches? You? Ha!” the raccoon scoffs. “Well, how about undoing that spell you put on her, and then you can go play your hunches with those nutty camels. I’ll inform you what I find out.”

Nodding, the Foundation leader covers the room in a handful of steps, arriving at the adjoining station which is separated by an interior wall with no door between them. Sticking his head in first, he spots Wolford gently placing Judy on the bed, covering her to the waist with the sheet as if putting a child down for the night.

Entering the room fully and stepping to the other side of the sleeping bunny, Palver places his hand lightly to one side of her head momentarily and then releases.

“She should awaken in the next few minutes,” the human instructs in low tones. “When she is ready, bring her to me in the Control Room. I have some work to do with Seldon.”

Gaining an affirmative from the wolf, Palver exits and crosses the first room towards the main door of MedLab where he momentarily halts to watch the doctor studying key life indicators on the monitors. Realizing he’s being watched, Rocky turns and answers the unasked question.

“I told you. He’s strong, Palver. Transferring him did no harm. We have a better chance now.”

A slight nod, and the Foundation leader exits.

Three minutes later, as predicted, Judy begins stirring. Wolford moves to take station at the foot of the bed and watches as the doe’s eyes flutter and then open, taking in unfamiliar surroundings. He can almost feel her process the situation as suddenly her eyes shoot wide open, and she sits up quickly with ears rigidly upwards. Now noticing Wolford standing in the room in ZPD uniform, Judy takes in a quick gasp of air and scoots backwards on the bed, trying to distance herself from the grey wolf.

“You stole Nick!” She accuses, eyes narrowing and turning angry.

Raising his front paws, palms turned towards her, Wolford attempts to ease the doe’s anger.

“Hopps, it’s OK. Nick is fine. We just--”

Cutting him off, the rabbit tosses the sheet aside and begins to exit the bed.

“Where is he?! What did you do to him?!”

“Wait!” the wolf tries again, not getting through.

As Judy’s hind paws hit the floor, the doe starts to crumble, having forgotten about the injury to her right leg. Wolford’s reaction to go help is immediately halted by a piercing stare by the bunny translated as “Don’t you dare touch me!”

Realizing that the soft approach was not going to appease the irate bunny, Wolford decides to change tactics.

“Officer Hopps!” the wolf growled in command tone, causing Judy’s eyes to go wide with ears rigid.

“I am a decorated ZPD officer who took an oath to protect the citizens of Zootopia, and that is exactly what I am doing!” Wolford snarls. “So, before you go off uninformed, create havoc, and possibly put Nick’s health in jeopardy, perhaps you would like to listen to your senior officer and understand the situation!”

Reminding Judy of her own oath and piling on the fear of her actions possibly harming Nick was enough to cause the doe to pause. Eyes wide and nose twitching, heartbeats pass before Judy’s ears fold again, and the bunny nods to her senior officer giving a soft "OK".

In that brief silence, from the next room, Rocky’s voice is heard.

“Geeze you can be a hardass, Wolford. Why don’t you bring the young lady over here, and let her see for herself?”

Shoulders slumping, the crisis averted for the moment, Wolford offers a paw to Judy to help her up.

“Come on. I can assure you that nobody here wants to harm you or Nick. Actually, we need to save him.”

Hesitant at first, Judy reaches out and takes the wolf’s helping paw, lifting her up again. Guiding her while providing mild support, the pair exit to the main station where Judy sees an early middle-aged raccoon wearing a physician’s smock standing besides the unconscious Nick and manipulating a device that is throwing detailed images of the fox’s midsection on the screen above the bed. The images cast are far more detailed than any ultrasound she’s ever witnessed. The shock of that technology makes the doe look around quickly to notice a number of devices in the room of which she is unfamiliar, not that she’s well versed in current medical technology. But the shape, color and form of much of the equipment seems somehow foreign.

“I know. It’s a little much to comprehend all at one time,” Wolford mentions as he watches the doe. “There’s a lot to explain, and this room is just a small part.”

Shaking her head, Judy refocuses on the doctor.

“What are you doing to Nick?” Judy asks with concern.

“Right now, I’m checking out the work that the ER surgeon did to see if I need to do any repair,” the physician reports while still watching the monitor.

“Thankfully, their surgeon seems to be fairly competent. So, I won’t need to open him up. But, I’ll hold off doing integrity finish repair until after I GET THE TOXICOLOGY REPORT!” Rocky adds, the last words barked out the door towards the lab.

“Toxicology?” Judy asks, eyes wide and ears erect.

“The bullet was poisoned,” Wolford answers. 

Judy’s eyes go wide and a paw covers her mouth in shock. “Oh, no!”

Rocky turns and faces the doe. “That’s why he’s here. Savana General was stumped, and we couldn’t wait for them to figure it out before he died.”

“Where is ‘here’?” Judy finally asks the doctor, but is interrupted as an Ibex enters the room with a digital tablet in its forehoof.

“Hold that question, young lady. Let me address this first,” Rocky responds and then turns to greet the chief lab technician. 

“About friggin’ time, Bovid. I generously gave you fifteen. You’re over twenty already.”

“It takes a bit longer to put things into small words so that you can understand them, you old bandit,” the ibex shoots back. “But, here. I found the culprit. Looks like whoever shot him had access to a chemist.”

Handing the tablet over to the raccoon, Rocky manipulates the oversized device.

“Aconitum napellus,” the doctor mummers. “That’s not surprising. That would have been in my top three anyway. Certainly wasn’t Strychnine as he’s still breathing. But I’m surprised SGH couldn’t catch it.”

“Modified and combined with masking agents,” Bovid remarks tapping a section of the screen. “They used the rarest of the three species and then combined it with a compound to keep it from being metabolized too quickly. A bullet wouldn’t carry a lot of compound. It’s not a dart. but probably was a hollow point that was filled with the poison. The fact that it exited rather than lodged inside probably limited the amount of payload delivered, which has saved him to this point.”

“OK,” the physician agrees and then tosses the tablet to a nearby table. “Nice work. Now, what about an antitoxin?”

“Give me another thirty on that. I had to recalibrate for canine physiology, but the synthesizer is working it now,” Bovid responds and then exits back to the lab.

“So far, so good then,” Rocky assesses turning back towards the wolf and bunny. It’s at this point that he notices the doe is listing to her right and that Wolford is providing support.

“What happened to your leg?” the doctor asks Judy.

Wolford laughs. “She took a bit of a fall at the museum today in the midst of arresting her second mayor. Haven’t been keeping up on the news, have you, Doc?”

“I’ve been a little busy here, wolf,” the raccoon snaps and then looks harder at Judy’s leg. 

“Stitches and crutches?” he asks getting a nod from the bunny.

“How barbaric,” he mutters, and then adds. “We have a much better option than stitches for wounds like that, if you want.” 

Judy hesitates as the strangeness of her surroundings and recent events begins to take its toll. Nick, struggling for life on a table surrounded by unrecognizable devices, the ZPD officer supporting her being more than he seemed. The doctor’s question seems to sound as if it’s coming from very far away. 

Rocky, notices the tell-a-tale signs of shock setting into the doe’s face, rephrases his offer in a more grounded way. 

“I can get you off crutches and back on your feet. Are you interested?”

Judy’s mind latches on to the word crutches and the fervent bunny attitude she’s known for reasserts itself. With little desire to be hobbling on crutches for weeks, Judy’s response is almost an instantaneous, “Yes, please!”

“Good choice,” Rocky affirms and then addressing her wolf companion, instructs, “Take her back to the other station.”

Wolford leads Judy back to the bed in the adjoining room as the doctor follows shortly thereafter, carrying some equipment that he deposits on a medical tray. 

“Now you, out,” Rocky orders the grey wolf. “I’ll call you to come get her when I’m done.”

As Wolford leaves, the physician offers Judy to take a seat on the room’s visitor chair. Pulling a light, rabbit-sized robe from a nearby locker, he lays it at the top of the oversized diagnostic bed and then turns towards Judy, his tone softening. “To get to the stitches, I’ll need you to remove those heavy jeans and lie down on the bed. But, before we do that, why don’t you tell me about your fall at the museum?”

Thinking a moment, Judy then gives a summary of the museum events including the gash on her leg from the floor-sitting tusk and finishing with her fall into the pit. Talking about what happened in the matter-of-fact way of a cop relaxes her. It was beginning to feel like she was just talking to her family doctor. 

Rocky ponders her story and then offers, “I’d like to give you a physical if that’s OK with you. You’ve been injured, and I don’t know who looked at you. But given all that I’ve seen, I’m tending not to trust SGH’s thoroughness.”

Judy considers for a moment and then shrugs her shoulders and accepts, not having any reason to refuse. 

“Great. Jeans and shirt off then, please.“ Rocky explains tapping the bed, indicating that it’s time for her to lay there. Then, walking over to the control console, he flips a switch enabling the diagnostic sensors and monitors to come to life. Meanwhile, Judy removes her shirt and torn jeans, placing them across the back of the visitor chair. After which, the doe gingerly climbs onto the bed, laying down on her back. Sensors immediately begin reporting on vital statistics that change as the doctor passes a long bar over her from ears to hind paws.

Seeing Judy begin to tense up with the reintroduction of the advanced technology. Rocky smiles and jokes, “Guess what? You’re a rabbit,” as he looks up at the monitor.

Judy gives a quick, nervous laugh before joking back, “I’m pretty sure that I knew that already. I didn’t need your high tech equipment here to tell me that.”

“Well, I can tell you that you’re in pretty good health other than that leg injury and a few contusions from the fall. No head or neck injuries.” 

Then, as a complete non sequitur, the doctor asks, “You have a favorite color?”

Judy blinks for a moment. “Blue, I guess.”

“OK,” Rocky responds, hitting a few buttons before before grabbing the robe from the top of the bed and handing it to the doe.

“Here. Put this on, and then we’ll see to those stitches,” the physician instructs before placing the scanning bar back into the holder near the control console. 

As Judy finishes donning the short robe, the doctor returns, and in his paws, he carries a small, block-shaped device along with something that looks like scissors. 

“Now, let’s take care of that embroidery work.”

Sitting up with her legs extended, Judy looks down and watches as the physician carefully cuts and removes the threads. A line of bleeding begins to occur from the still fresh wound, but is quickly halted when the doctor passes the device in his paw over the cut.

“You’ll feel a little warmth here, but don’t fret it,” Rocky assures as he slowly advances the device over the leg again. Adjusting a control on the top of the unit, the doctor moves it once more, this time slower as Judy now feels a tingling sensation.

“That kind of tickles,” Judy reports.

“Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that too,” Rocky responds as the surgical nurse sticks her head around the wall.

“Doc, a package is here from Replication.”

“Thank you, nurse. Just put it on the chair,” Rocky responds, nodding towards the guest chair.

A beep from the hand device is followed by a click and the end of the tingling in Judy’s leg.

“Stand up and give it a go,” the physician instructs.

Sliding out of bed, Judy tentatively tests putting weight on the leg only to find no discomfort in it now. Flexing it fully, she’s amazed to find out that not only is the pain gone, but the strength is equal to her other leg. Closer inspection shows the thinnest of lines showing where the cut had been.

“That’s incredible!” Judy exclaims.

Rocky laughs while picking up a small syringe and a bottle from a tray nearby. “Just technology and knowledge on how to apply it. Now, sit for a moment. I didn’t read a tetanus inoculation, and with that wound, you should have one.”

“This isn’t any technology I know of, Doc,” Judy responds as she sits back down, looking around and then offering her arm. A quick shot later, the doe stands, and with eyes narrowing, asks. “Time to answer my question. What is this place?”

“I’ll tell you that you’re in the MedLab facility of the Foundation. Other than that, I’ll defer you to our leader, Palver. But before I do that, the package on the chair is for you.”

Looking over at the chair, Judy finds a cloth bundle colored in shades of blue.

“Since I scanned your shape, I took the liberty of having replacement clothes made for you.” Pulling out a bag from one of the shelves, he adds. “You can place your dirty clothes in here, and we will have them cleaned and mended.”

“Take ten minutes to change while I go check on that antitoxin,” the raccoon adds as he walks towards the first station’s sliding door. “I’ll seal this until then for privacy. After that, I’ll have Wolford take you to Palver.”

Exiting the doors, they close with a previously unheard ‘click’ indicating a lock had been enabled.

Looking down at the bundle of clothes, Judy picks up the first item which is a pair of dark blue slacks composed of a stretching material, somewhat like sweats in that they fit to form, yet the material seems more like denim. Below the pants is a light blue shirt with a dark-blue, thin plaid that matches the pants. At the bottom is a pair of panties in a fabric as soft as silk yet somehow more durable.

Placing her jeans and pink shirt into the bag, Judy halts before dressing. A mischievous look suddenly crosses her face as she picks up the bag and cloth bundle and crosses over to the first station where Nick lays motionless. Placing the bundle on the chair next to him, the doe unties her robe, letting it slip to the floor as she watches the monitor. Her lips form a small frown as she then turns with her back to the bed. Slipping her panties down and kicking them away, the doe wiggles her tail playfully.

Turning her head and still seeing no change in lifesigns, she sighs and quickly dresses herself in the delivered clothes, which fit incredibly well. 

After placing her underwear in the bag, the doe takes a couple of steps closer to the bed and looks across at the prone, unconscious tod. Sticking her tongue out, she points to the monitoring board and admonishes, “The next time I strip to fur in front of you, Slick, I expect a better reaction than that.”

Giggling as she retreats to the chair, Judy drops the bag of dirty clothes next to it, hops up on the seat, and awaits Wolford’s return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little inside story on this chapter.
> 
> I initially wrote Rocky as having a snappy, controlling and no nonsense personality...sort of how he addresses Wolford, but with everybody, including Judy. 
> 
> Arivelle gave it a read, and when it came to him giving Judy a physical with that demeanor, she responded with a "Ummm...no. You're not posting that. Try again." - Although in a far nicer tone. :)
> 
> So...Rocky suddenly gained a soft and concerned bedside manner with Judy.
> 
> I think it reads far better with that personality change. I'll gladly take your thoughts and comments on it.
> 
> Lordy...


	8. Foundation

Five minutes of waiting in the chair is an eternity for a high-energy bunny looking for answers. The annoying delay is thankfully ended as the door to the MedLab finally clicks and slides open. Entering the room, the physician racoon is accompanied by a grey wolf whose eyes widen with surprise.

“New clothes?” Wolford asks.

“I had them made,” the doctor responds. “I sent her measurements to Replication to have the Deep 3D printers crank out an outfit. I messaged them that you seem to prefer plaid shirts. I hope you like it.”

“These are wonderful! Thank you!” Judy exclaims as she hugs the doctor.

“Right. Tactile bunnies,” Rocky states with an embarrassed chuckle. “Well, you’re welcome. Can’t have you looking all ragged when meeting the boss for the first time...well technically second.”

Judy’s head tilts in confusion.

“Palver was with us in the hospital, Hopps,” Wolford explains. “He’s the one who..umm, put you to sleep.”

“I sort of recall a tall robed mammal, but everything happened so fast.” Judy muses before asking, “How did he put me to sleep?”

“Just one of his talents,” Wolford avoids. “I’ll let him explain it to you.”

“Well, you two go on,” Rocky directs. “Bovid is coming here momentarily with the antitoxin, and we’ll administer it.”

“When will Nick be awake?” Judy asks anxiously.

“Probably not until morning. Between the anesthesia from surgery and the sedative effects of the toxin, I suspect he’ll sleep through the night.”

Nodding in understanding, the doe looks up at Wolford who gestures towards the door. “Come on then. Let’s go see our illustrious leader.”

\-----------------

As rabbit and wolf quietly pad their way to the Control Room, Judy continues to ponder the burning question in her mind.

“I still don’t know what this place is all about, Wolford. Why the big secret?”

“You can call me Fred, Hopps. We’re technically not on duty here.”

“Oh, OK. Then please call me Judy,” she replies with a smile.

“Done,” Wolford concludes, returning her smile.

“Now on to your question. Do you recall the movie _Mammals in Black_ some years ago?” the wolf asks.

“Umm...yes. A secret organization that keeps aliens in check and protects the planet,” Judy recalls. “Is that this place?!”

“Well, somewhat. Just no aliens. What the Foundation is here to do is protect the Zootopian society and let it develop...without them knowing it.”

Wolford suddenly halts and turns towards Judy. “I know sociologists have many theories about why mammals, and only mammals, are sentient. There’s the single species theory, that we all had a common ancestor that will be discovered any day. The warm-blooded speculation, that only warm-blooded brains are capable of sentience. The arms race theory where either predators or prey became sentient first and the other followed quickly to stay alive, and that perhaps prey got it first because there is such a greater diversity and number of them.”

“All those theories are crap, Judy. What you are about to learn is the real reason why all mammals are sentient, and why we have the civilization we have. But, before you do, I need you to completely trust me on this.”

Judy pauses a moment, considering her words. “Fred, I think I can. You’ve proven to me already that you have Nick’s best interest at heart. Just looking around me, I can tell that there is something going on here that I need to be open-minded about. What is it that I need to trust, Fred?”

Crouching down closer to the bunny’s level, Wolford explains.

“I’m about to take you into a room where you are going to meet someone. The first time you meet him, every fiber in your body will scream fear. Just think to yourself, ‘He’s not the boogymammal’, and try to remember what I said. Nobody here is going to hurt you.”

“Well, now you’re scaring me, Fred,” Judy nervously laughs.

“I’m just trying to prepare you,” the grey wolf responds as he stands up. “I just hope it helps. Let’s go.”

Walking towards a black, glossy door, Wolford places a paw on a small, flat panel to the right as a scanning beam maps his face. When the beam disappears, a click is heard and the door swings inward to a darkened room. Placing his other paw along Judy’s back, he ushers her forward into the room as the door closes behind. From the illuminations of streams of mathematical equations spanning wall panels, she can see a camel sitting at some kind of control station and talking…

...to a nightmare.

Judy’s ears shoot up rigidly as countless centuries of evolutionary conditioning yells “RUN!”. With eyes wide as possible and heart beating rapidly, the doe backpedals quickly into the trailing wolf who grabs her shoulders to steady her and then spins her around.

“Judy! You’re safe! No one will harm you!” Wolford yells, trying to get through to the frightened bunny.

“Great dunes, Palver! You just let her walk in like this? A prey mammal, and you bring her cold turkey before the apex predator?” Huby admonishes.

“There’s really no good way, Huby. You almost wet yourself the first time you met me, if you remember, and you're many times larger than her.”

“Hey! I tried to warn her!” Wolford objects turning the bunny around to face the seated duo. “Not that it seems to have helped that much.”

Huby does an eye roll as he gets up from his control chair and walks over towards the bunny and wolf. Lowering himself into a sitting position, the camel offers a double-toed front foot.

“Miss Hopps. My name is Huby. It’s spelled with an ‘H’ but nobody but Palver over there ever pronounces it. You can call me either way though, deal?”

Judy, focusing on the camel before her, slowly relaxes as logic begins to overcome instinct.

“H-hi, Huby. Please call me Judy,” she responds, her front paw dwarfed by the camel’s as she shakes it.

Palver, chair now turned towards the group but still remaining seated at his console, offers, “If you have overcome the initial shock of my existence, I would welcome you to come join us at the control stations. Gemel has retired for the night, and his spot is open if you don’t mind sitting in a camel sized chair.”

“Yeah, c’mon,” Huby encourages while standing and retreating to his chair. “We were just talking about you anyway.”

Judy looks up and back towards Wolford who nods and then addresses the human. “Palver, I need to scoot for the night. I’m on morning shift patrol with Fangmeyer tomorrow.”

“That’s fine. Thank you for your help today. Let me know if the tigress recalls anything,” Palver requests.

“It’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation in the cruiser anyway with me suddenly leaving. I rather not include covering for phantom memories,” the grey wolf responds, and then adds before exiting. “And Judy, remember please. We’re all here to help Zootopia, Nick and you. Just give us a chance.”

After Wolford exits, Judy warily walks over to the open, oversized chair and jumps into it. Pausing for a moment, the doe takes a deep breath and makes a decision.

_Offense is better than defense._

Scooting to the back of the chair, legs outstretched, the rabbit crosses her arms, and with ears upraised and eyes narrowed at the human, she challenges, “OK. Let’s start with 'Who are you? What are you, and what is this place?’”

Huby laughs, “Wow! Right for the jugular!”

Palver also chuckles. “That’s why she’s the one we’ve kept our eye on.”

Shifting forward in his chair, the tall human summarizes, “My name is Palver. I’m a human and the leader of this institution that we call the Foundation.”

“Wolford said no aliens were here. Are you?” Judy shoots.

“Actually, we all are,” Palver responds. “But, that has a much longer answer to it. So instead, let’s start with what you see here.”

Manipulating controls, lines of equations fill the walls illuminating the room further.

“These walls contain predicted probabilities of cultural behavior in Zootopia. As events occur, an Artificial Intelligence system contained in the black column in the middle of the room will project future movements of the society using a methodology called Psychohistory initially developed by the great mathematician, Hari Seldon. This institution then uses those projections to ‘nudge’ the society in a path that is the most favorable for development.”

Manipulating controls further, Palver highlights a path and branches. “For instance, this is the one of the current paths society could take, and those symbols are your effect on the probabilities, which is what we were discussing when you came in.”

“So, each of these lines define a possible outcome of society based on events?” Judy inquires, looking around.

“Pretty much. Yes.”

“And what about that one? How did I affect that?” Judy suddenly poses.

Huby’s eyes spring wide and then shakes his head. “Really, rabbit? Thousands of equations and symbols cross these walls and you pick 4-2?”

“The symbols match the line you just showed me where I influenced an event,” Judy states, challenging the human. “How is it that I can be an influence in another line?”

Palver sits back in his chair, fingers steepled against his lips.

“On the one hand, I don’t want to tell you. But, on the other, it may be the reason I brought you here.”

A growling of Judy’s stomach suddenly pauses the conversation as her ears redden and drop in embarrassment.

“When was the last time you ate, Judy?”

“I had a little something at the hospital before they released me after stitching me up,”

“C’mon. Let’s go to the Commissary. I’ve skipped dinner myself and wouldn’t mind something before I turn in. We can go more into details of the who’s and what’s while we stuff our faces.”

Standing up, the tall human invites the doe to jump down and join him. As Judy heads towards the door, Palver turns back towards the camel, whose head is still shaking, to add, “And you, Huby, can chat with Seldon about the effect of Judy knowing about 4-2.”


	9. Secrets

Although never closed, the Foundation Commissary is normally empty in the late evenings. Tonight, however, an unlikely duo of a rabbit doe and human male sit at one of the common room tables as they dine on salads. Hers contains a mixture of greens and fresh cold vegetables; whereas, his is a caesar with bits of seasoned tofu.

“So, a quick, abbreviated history,” Palver starts before taking in another forkful of dressing-laden lettuce. “But, let me start with a question. Are you aware of the Rare Earth theory?”

Judy pauses while munching a carrot bit for a moment, thinking, then shakes her head.

“Not surprising. It’s not a well communicated theory outside of Astrophysics. In summary, there are billions of stars in the galaxy and even more billions of planets. But the combination of overlapping zones where life could exist, whether it’s type of star, type of planets, their distance from the star, or even distance from the center of a galaxy, eliminates many of them...but not all. That makes Earth rare.” the human instructs, adding, “but…”

His fork poised and aimed towards the doe to accent his next point.

“This is not Earth.”

Wide eyes and erect ears result. “Then, what planet is this?”

“We call it Novus Terra, or New Earth in Latin. We’re about a twelfth of the distance around the Milky Way galaxy from the original Earth, in what we called the Carina arm of the galaxy. It’s thirteen thousand light-years away, give or take. Oh, our singular moon is about 3% smaller and 5% closer, and the planet itself is only a percent or two smaller than the original Earth. But, Novus Terra has a similar rotation time as Earth, and a nearly identical orbital time around what could have been a twin of Earth’s sun. Given the billions of planets, another rare one had to exist with specs close to Earth. But Novus Terra is incredibly close, and perfect to sustain mammalian life. We were very lucky to find it.”

“Now that you understand that, let’s go into why you are here.”

“Humans developed the ability to bring other mammals into sentience, a term called ‘Uplifting’ over two thousand years ago. Before uplifting, only humans had advanced intelligence, and most mammals feared humans as the dominant predator on the planet, which is why you reacted so strongly to my presence when you first met me. Years of evolution do not get erased by uplifting; one of the reasons why there is continued friction between prey and predators.”

“A few mammals, however, became domesticated and were kept as pets.”

Judy’s ears drop as a look of disgust crosses her face. “Like rabbits?”

“Well, yes. Some rabbits were domesticated, but only a small percentage,” Palver admits. “In most cases, pets were treated as family members. So, maybe it wasn’t so bad. But, I digress. Let me move on.”

“Because of advances in robotics, living pets were falling behind in favor of mechanical pets that could converse with their owners. Thus, market forces drove research into uplifting the sentience of pets to compete. People wanted pets that could talk, and science succeeded in doing so while also uncovering extremely rare humans with a talent that, after training, could perform the uplift. That’s a trait I possess, and although all of this manipulation may seem somewhat terrible to you, it actually is the reason why Zootopia can exist.”

“But sadly, this is where the story gets, well, darker,” Palver starts, pausing for a moment to take another bite of his salad.

“How so?” the doe asks as she continues munching her dinner.

“The result of successful uplifts brought about a second market force, creation of a new working class to whom mundane or distasteful work tasks could be transitioned. Things that humans no longer wished to do. Primates were the best class of mammals for this initiative, being closest to humans in design and capability. However, in far too many cases, this turned them into serfs or slaves.”

Judy stops chewing, ears up in alarm as her face changes to a look of horror. “That’s terrible!” she objects.

“I agree.” Palver concurs. “The rapid scientific advancement, unfortunately, did not match moral advancement at the time. It was human rights, not humane rights that were protected by law. Thus, there was nothing holding humans back from subjugating the other primates...and we paid for it.”

“What happened?” Judy pauses her eating to ask with directed interest as Palver takes another bite of lettuce.

Looking down at his nearly empty plate, Palver continues in a softer tone. 

“As the number of uplifted primates increased, Seldon predicted the probability of an uprising. Those that believed and gave warning were branded as alarmists until the first outbreaks occurred. Eventually everyone accepted that local revolts would happen, but the popular opinion was that the consequences would be minor. Some lost property here, some delays there. So, nothing was done about it.”

“Nothing?” Judy asked, incredulously, unaccustomed to the idea of inaction when action is needed. 

“A life without menial labor was too enticing, and humans were willing to believe any credible lie that meant keeping the status quo. But, popular opinion was tragically wrong. Instead, the primates rebelled in mass, and there was a global and disastrous war. Eventually, humans prevailed, and the primates were defeated and sadly eliminated, but Earth was wrecked in the process.”

Looking back up at his dining partner, the story continues.

“A group of us, sickened over what had happened to the primates and our planet, used the technology that was left to flee Earth. We wanted to make reparations to the fauna by restarting the whole process using the seeds of the mammals you see today and uplift all mammals, not just a few. Our starhopper probes found this planet, and thirty of us took the trip. We spent the first twenty years creating, adapting and expanding the flora and fauna to support mammals, and then the next ten to bring them to sentience.”

“Two of us were psychohistorians, individuals with that rare, uplift talent that have been schooled in the mathematics behind Seldon’s science. The rest were a number of technical engineers, veterinarians, med techs, etc. We built the Foundation where we sit today a little over two thousand years ago, and then helped start the tribes of mammals that your history reports.”

Pointing to a nearby, digital clock, Palver explains, “The date on the bottom isn’t the date you are used to seeing, as Zootopia uses the signing of the peace treaty as year zero; whereas, we use our arrival on Novus Terra as year zero, hence suffixed with ‘NT’.”

“But, history goes back much further than two-thousand years,” Judy objects. 

“Written history only goes back about fifteen-hundred, and even that was sketchy until about a thousand years ago. Our agents worked with the tribes, sewing stories and events that made them believe that history was longer than that. We nudged them.”

“So...you’re over two-thousand years old?” Judy asks in disbelief.

“My memories are. But that’s where it gets a little technical again,” Palver hesitates. “Another question time. Ever hear of the singularity?”

“Just in Sci-Fi shows. People becoming robots kind of thing,” Judy quickly responds, and then her eyes widen. “You’re a robot?!”

Palver laughs while shaking his head. “No. I’m flesh and blood like you. But, OK, more boring science stuff. I’m explaining it so that you see that I’m not that different of a mammal than you, just with a bit of technical head start.”

“Humans experienced the singularity. But transference to a mechanical environment, although saving one’s conscious, left that person empty. The need to be incorporated into flesh is what makes us live. So, to extend life, we developed the ability to transfer one’s synaptic patterns into another living vessel. But, here’s the catch. They had to be identical, an artificially grown clone. Take a person and clone them, keep them from gaining consciousness, and then at the proper time, transfer the patterns.”

Judy’s ears drop. “That sounds...somehow wrong. Like taking the life from the clone.”

Palver nods his head. “Since it’s living tissue and not mechanical, I can understand that. But, it’s your tissue, so there’s some ownership aspects to be considered too. For instance, Zootopian scientists are working on using cells from a person to regenerate organs to replace a damaged one. Is it unfair to use that organ?”

“No. But an organ--” Judy begins to argue, but is interrupted.

“Yes. Is not a whole body. I get it. Believe me, there were many moral arguments on that too. But, there was one other problem that made much of that argument moot.”

Ears raise in anticipation.

“Replica fading,” Palver answers. “Even the most careful cloning process can result in an imperfect copy, and when clones are made from clones, those errors propagate. Eventually the body is irreparably damaged. Soon, no clone could be created from the prior that would be sustainable. On Earth the longest documented transferred life span was only 250 years”

Judy’s eyebrows furrow. “Then how?”

“We solved it just before all hell broke loose with the primates. As far as I know, that secret left Earth with us. That’s how I’m still here.”

“Does that mean you’re really just memories and a petri dish?” Judy asks.

Palver chuckles a little. “You could say that. Does it make me more or less threatening?”

Judy takes a moment to consider her feelings. “Let’s call it a draw,” she says with a little laugh. 

Then pushing at her food a little, the doe reflects on what she’s heard thus far. “You said thirty humans traveled here. What are the rest doing while you’re here answering questions from curious rabbits?”

Palver sits back in his chair, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

“Only eight could be regenerated. That’s all the capacity we had. Two psychohistorians, myself being one, two veterinarians, a physician, a medical technologist and two technical engineers to keep this place running. Everything else was done by uplifted mammals that we recruited from tribes, trained them, and secreted them within the Foundation or implanted them back into the tribes to ‘nudge’ as needed.”

“Of those eight, I’m all that’s left…”

Ears drop. “What happened to the others?”

“The process of transference is...excruciating. Even that doesn’t come close to describing it. For a week, until the synaptic patterns set properly, the pain is intense. You basically scream for the first couple of days, wishing for death. Then, it’s an intense migraine that fades over days. Once we had local mammals learn the roles and could turn the functions over to them, the others that had tired of life and having to go through the process, chose to pass.”

Leaning forward again, elbows on the table, chin on cuffed hands, Palver whispers, “All but one, the other psychohistorian, my wife, Lori.”

Already seeing her reaction, the human leans back in his chair again, palm up to forgo the question.

“A human male brain matures at twenty-five years of age. A female is slightly faster. So, she would transfer first. We’d wait a year. Then it would be my turn,” he starts.

“I mentioned that we had just overcome replica fading before we left Earth. It was an immature technique that the physicians would watch closely. On the twenty-third cycle, over five-hundred years since we had landed. We discovered a flaw. Lori’s host was damaged, and it was too late to generate another.”

“I watched her age and finally die…”

A tear streaks down Judy’s face. “I’m so sorry.”

Palver shrugs, sitting up in his chair again. “It was a long time ago. The others had already passed, their functions having been assumed by local mammals, and the uplifts were complete, thankfully. Lori was the best at working with the more difficult mammals.”

“I’ve always had problems with rabbits,” Judy repeats from memory, eyes focusing now on the human’s face. “I heard you say that before I fell unconscious.”

Palver chuckles. “Well, it’s true. Lori did the heavy work when it came to uplifting lagomorphs. She then had to correct me on what I was doing wrong. She was brilliant.”

Judy thinks for a moment. “What about regenerating other mammals?”

Shaking his head, Palver answers. “The process only worked for humans. Or, the process was only ever developed for humans. Actually, I don’t know, not being a medical doctor.”

“I can tell you though that through the years we’ve been here, some pretty brilliant mammals tried to unravel the process to see if we could indeed extend other mammals, with sadly no success. It would have been a benefit to have others be able to regenerate, if anything to provide continuity. Recruiting and training is a very difficult process, especially in the early years when there was little in the way of formal education among the tribes.”

“But, alas, no hopes there,” Palver concludes between lettuce chews as he finishes his salad.

Putting her fork down, Judy shifts in her chair announcing a shift in conversation.

“So, what is 4-2, and what do you want with Nick and me?”

Chin meets steepled fingers as Palver leans forward on the table, staring intently at the bunny before him. Judy could almost feel the internal argument the human was having.

“OK,” he concludes internally, sitting back up. “Seldon isn’t going to be much help here, and I’m pretty much shooting from the hip, but here’s the scenario.”

“Right around the time you were born, Huby and Gemel, the other mathematician you haven’t met, were forecasting events around the next prey vs. predator scism taking into account the growing social media trends. They forecasted a crisis right about now, and sadly, they were terribly correct.”

“Bellweather, who although psychotic, was continually touted by the Prey Defense League as a savior to the prey community. Your highly public action that removed her has sparked a backlash of hatred towards you from the hardcore PDL fanatics that resulted in Nick’s shooting…and Nick is a predator.”

Rubbing his forehead, Palver adds, “The Predator Rights Group is going to push all sorts of agenda items in the council up to and including the disbanding of the PDL over this, using Nick as a martyr.”

“But,” Judy objects, ”Nick isn’t dead!”

“Precisely why he’s here. We couldn’t let him die, and worse yet, we need him to diffuse the conflict and let the Council settle down so that they can address the public’s tension.”

“How can Nick do that?” Judy asks. 

“He needs to become a figurehead of peaceful coexistence between prey and predator. And, your relationship with him will help solidify that. The PRG won’t be able to easily vilify prey, when your love is dating a bunny.”

“He’s not my love,” Judy automatically responds, the words feeling false even as she says them.

Palver’s eyes narrow. “There is one person in this institution to whom you can never lie, and you’re looking at him.”

Judy’s ears turn pink. “Well, I mean, we’ve never really talked about it.”

“Um hmm. Well thankfully, you’re going to get that chance, for we need you to talk him into coming out from under the radar and address the PRG. We’ll give him everything he needs. But, he must be the voice and image that will silence those who want war.”

Judy sits quiet for a moment and looks up at the Foundation Leader. “Is that what 4-2 is about?”

“No,” Palver answers. “Branch 4-2 was the final answer, the result of failure. A dead Nick would have caused civil war and the Commonwealth would eventually intervene, sending in a lagomorph army and turning Zootopia into a governed state of the Commonwealth.”

“And the reason my symbols were there?”

“Because you, my dear bunny, were going to lead them.”


	10. Comfort

Judy, deep in thought after parting with the Foundation leader for the night, slowly walks the now-quiet halls to return to the MedLab. Doors sliding open, the doe almost runs into the physician racoon who was exiting, both exchanging apologies at the near collision.

“I was just checking on our patient before turning in for the night. We administered the antitoxin earlier, and all is looking very good. Also, I did the integrity finish repair,” Rocky updates.

“I’m sorry, the what?” Judy asks, confused.

“Remember what I did to your leg to seal the wound and repair the surrounding tissues?” Rocky inquires, gaining a nod from the doe.

“Well, I did the same for Nick. When he awakens, he may find it difficult to locate where he was shot,” he explains with a chuckle before his tone gets serious again. “So, how did the meeting with our great leader go?”

Judy explained the shock of meeting him and the conversation she had, specifically about the regeneration and loss of his wife.

Looking around, Judy asks “Where is the next clone?”

Eyes widening, the doctor inquies, “He didn’t say anything about the next one?”

Judy shakes her head slowly, not expecting that question.

Taking a deep breath, Rocky offers, “Follow me,” and proceeds to exit the MedLab, walking in the opposite direction than the laboratory.

Stopping at a glass-fronted door, the raccoon places a paw on a reader and a scanning beam reaches out, covering his face. Satisfied with his identity, the door locks release allowing the pair to enter a long, narrow and spartan tiled floor room containing eight horizontal cylindrical units, each more than two meters in length. The sound of their footsteps echo off gloss-painted walls as they move towards the center of the room.

“Cylinder Five is for Palver,” the raccoon states flatly, indicating the nearest container. “A year after regeneration, we prepare the next host.”

Judy looks at the cylinder, a confused look growing on her face. “How long has it been since his last regeneration?”

Rocky pauses, “Five years.” The echo magnifying his answer in the stillness of the room.

Looking again at the container, Judy’s confusion mounts. “But, the unit is empty.”

“I know,” the physician responds softy. “He must not have mentioned it to you, but Palver isn’t planning on coming back.”

“Why?!” Judy exclaims, her question sharply bouncing back at her from the solid walls.

“He believes that by the end of his current lifespan, his and the Foundation’s mission will be complete.”

A sad look crosses the racoon’s banded face.

“Personally, I fear that Palver does not want to be the only human in the world when he believes that he’s no longer needed.”

\-----------

Black and ominous, the door, much higher than a rabbit would ever need, stands before her. Her mind churning from the conversation with the physician had brought her here. The doe barely remembers the walk as if once her internal voice commanded it, her mind became consumed otherwise and had not bothered to record her steps.

A small, fisted paw knocks on the door with only hopes that it is sufficient to alert the mammal on the other side. The one she needed to talk to. The one who would know.

She needed answers…

Relief temporarily holds her anxiety at bay as the welcome click of an electronic lock release sounds, and the door opens. Towering over her is a camel...the one.

“I need to talk to you,” Judy says to a surprise-eyed Huby.

Reading her face was all he needed, and with a nod, he ushers her into the room.

\-----------

The darkness of the MedLab is broken only by the soft glow of equipment status lights and the dimmed monitor above Nick’s head in the room next door. Although late, Judy lays awake on the bed in the second exam room. A guest room had been offered, but she had refused. Her excuse was to be near Nick for when he awakens, but the real reason was deeper.

She needed him close...

“Thirteen percent chance,” Huby had told her, as she lays on the bed, recalling the conversation. The clarity of the memory is etched so fine as if the camel was in the room talking to her.

“That’s all?! He’s betting on a thirteen percent chance that he’s not needed anymore?” Judy exclaims.

“In this business, Judy, thirteen percent is pretty high. Palver has been working it over with Seldon for years, ever since Gemel and I first raised this recent crisis with him,” the camel relates and then drops his head.

“I’ve tried to talk him out of it. So has Gemel...and others too. But, I think once Seldon gave him a green light in his mind, he was done,” Huby recounts before dropping back into his chair. “And, maybe I don’t blame him. Two-thousand years is a long time to live only to watch everyone you know pass before you, while at the same time, having to go through that torture he faces every twenty-five years. How he’s made it this far, I don’t know.”

“But, what if he’s wrong? What if the thirteen percent turns out to be zero and we face another crisis without him?” Judy challenges.

“The Foundation can continue on without him,” Huby explains. “Seldon will still be here, and we’ll recruit others. It’s just without Palver keeping a lid on things, our chance of being discovered goes up.”

Ears raise in alarm. “What do you mean?”

“We have a number of mammals here and in the field, Judy. Some can get disgruntled, or slip up. Palver has had to, well let’s say ‘fix’ things from time to time,” Huby responds, pointing a two-toed foot at his head.

“You mean, he brainwashes mammals?!” Ears now at full vertical with eyes shocked.

“Not quite. He can make others forget things, I’ve been told,” Huby tries to reassure, adding, “which is helpful if they leave or somehow, someone stumbles onto us. That’s how we were able to get Nick out of the hospital without exposing us.”

“Oh. Yeah. That is probably a good thing,” Judy relents once reminded of Nick.

“Besides,” Huby adds, “technology is catching up. Palver is right to that extent. As long as a Seldon crisis doesn’t retard society, we may only have another generation before we’re done.”

“Like a civil war?” Judy asks.

“Like a civil war,” the camel confirms. “That’s why we have to stop it from happening.”

\-------------

The mental replay finishes only to allow the day’s events to catch up to the doe. She had just wanted to make the world a better place. Yet, the world wasn’t the world she knew. It was manufactured, controlled, manipulated, and now, soon to be abandoned. There’s only so much fight a lagomorph can do alone before the flight instinct takes over, and even with Judy’s will, that limit was being reached.

Sliding out of the second bed, the doe softly pads over towards the sleeping fox. Standing in front of him, she sees the peaceful look on his face, the sleek, yet muscular form enveloped in beautiful dark red and cream fur until finally hidden by the sheet starting at his waist.

Heartbeats...so many heartbeats pass as she studies him. His breathing, soft and even.

“I’m sorry, Nick. But, I need you,” she whispers, and then slowly removing her blue plaid top and printed slacks, she climbs clad only in her panties into the open space next to the vulpin. Lifting the sheet slightly, the doe moves besides her fox, placing her head softly on his chest. As a last act, she reaches and lightly grasps the soft, fluffy tail, placing it over her before resetting the sheet over them both. Now, wrapped in russet security, Judy closes her eyes and finally sleeps.

\-------------

An automated alert rings at the desk of the second-shift nurse, a lovely whitetailed deer. As she glances at the remote monitor that mirrors the reporting of the first room bed, she emits a short “Huh?” as the doe tries to make sense of the confusing readout of overlapping lifesigns intertwining the monitor, creating a chaotic mess of lines and metrics.

Flipping on the camera to monitor the room, eyes widen at the scene before her. For on the screen, the nurse sees a rabbit doe snuggled tightly against the fox patient, both in deep sleep.

Shaking her head, the deer flips the switch off, providing privacy to the pair.

“A rabbit and a fox,” she muses shaking her head, “Who would have ever guessed?”

\---------

A few hours later, the aforementioned fox opens his right eye slowly and begins to take note of his surroundings.

_Where...am I?_ Nick thinks to himself.

Sterile white walls and some unusual equipment are spotted. OK. Curious, but no panic needed yet.

About then, a message is received concerning possible pressure being felt around his upper chest.

His eye rotates downwards.

_Holy crap!!! Judy?!_

Both eyes are now open, active and wide, head tilted up a bit to look down.

_Uhhh...That’s a lot of grey fur. Is she naked?!_

_AM I NAKED?!!_

A paw moves silently down to lift the covering sheet.

_OK. Not naked, but...that’s still a lot of nice, soft fur._

_Nope! Nope! Don’t think about that! Foxes and bunnies._

_Who am I kidding?_

_whimper…_

The soft whine is enough to catch the consciousness of the dozing bunny, and moments later, the doe lifts her head to find wide emerald greens staring back at her. An exhausted relief of breath leaves the rabbit as she drops her head back to the furred cream of his chest, rubbing her cheek in it.

“Thank all the gods that you’re OK,” she praises.

A gravelly voice rumbles from the vulpin’s chest. “Umm...Carrots. You want to fill me in on what’s going on?”

A cleansing breath, rich in the fox’s scent, settles the bunny.

“Sure. OK. Where to begin? Well, after you were shot--” she starts, and suddenly gets jolted upwards as Nick reacts.

“I was shot!” he suddenly recalls. Paws working non-bunny covered surfaces looking for wounds.

“Nick! Relax! You’re fine!” Judy commands, head raised again as purple meets green.

Halting his search, the fox settles back, looking around. “Am I in a hospital?”

“Sort of. Long story, Slick.”

“And this long story will explain how ‘_sort of_’' hospital treatments now come with fur-laden, bunny hugs?”

A snorted laugh results with the doe resting her head on his chest again. “No. That’s because you love me, and I love you. And, I needed you."

Nick freezes, a change quickly picked up by Judy as she looks back up at him. Her eyes now wide.

“Please tell me that I’m not wrong?” she asks in a soft voice tinged with fear.

_Oh, Wilde, you are done for. Just give it up. Your heart is now owned by this crazy, beautiful, optimistic, energetic and bright little bunny._

Somewhere in the echoes of his mind, Nick hears a replay of “She hustled you good!” in Finnick’s deep baritone voice.

His face melting into a smile of defeat, Nick lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Kissing the top of Judy’s head between her ears, he confesses. “Okay, Officer Hopps. You’ve got me. I’m busted. Incredible as it may seem, fallen for a bunny, I have. But how?”

“Your tail,” Judy says relieved, hugging the furry appendage tighter against her. “You wrapped it around me in the garage when I hugged you.”

“Damn traitor. Kind of hard to keep secrets when that stupid thing is spilling the beans,” Nick admonishes. “Just let up a bit, would you please, Fluff? It is kind of sensitive.”

Quickly letting go, an embarrassed look crosses the doe’s face. “Oh! I’m so sorry!”

The tail comes back to find her waist, curling around it. “It’s not a problem, sweetheart.”

Cuddling the tail again, but this time more gently, Judy asks, “So, you want the long story now?”

“Umm...sure. But, can we push pause for a moment? There’s a bit of a problem,” Nick states.

A concerned look crosses the doe’s face. “What?”

Nick’s smile turns sheepish. “I, uhh, sort of need to find a washroom. Know of one around here?”

A relieved, quick laugh later, Judy responds while pointing. “Out the main door and to the right.”

As Nick is about to pull away, he suddenly halts. “I suppose there’s really no reason to cover up, right?”

Another laugh. “I think I’ve seen it all already, Slick.”

Hopping out of bed, Nick chides, “Wow. Take all the mystery out of the relationship, don’t you, girl. You’re probably the type who reads the back of the book first to see who the murderer is.”

“Just get your fuzzy tail back here quickly. I’m gonna get cold,” Judy orders the laughing fox as he quickly pads across the floor, opens the door and ducks down the hallway.

\------------

“So, let me get this straight,” Nick begins as he lays on his back atop the MedLab bed. Cuddling close is a grey-furred bunny, who is partially laying on the fox’s chest as they chat. “Somewhere in this complex is an eldritch mammal of history and lore who not only magically brought us all here, but has been messing with our society since its inception, guiding it to his purpose, all while blinding us to his presence?”

“Well, he’s not a loud or spooky supernatural being. He’s a mammal just like us, flesh and blood,” Judy corrects.

“Except, he’s over two-thousand years old.”

“His consciousness and memories are. But the body he currently inhabits is probably no more than thirty,” Judy again explains, adjusting her position to look into Nick’s eyes.

“So, what does he want of us mammals? Why mess with us at all?” Nick ponders.

“I don’t know,” the doe responds, ears falling. “All I know is that he’s gotten us to this point, and now wants to leave.”

Lifting up to an elbow, the vulpin poses, “If he thinks he’s done, why stop him?”

“Thirteen percent, Nick. Nearly seven out of eight chance he’s wrong. You’ve seen the mess we’re in, and now he wants you to be the figurehead to make peace hoping that the odds can be improved so that he could leave?”

Sitting up, Judy looks down towards Nick. “It just doesn’t seem like a good bet, and nobody appears to be able to talk him into staying.”

Nick considers. “Sweetheart, assuming you’re right, and you need to convince him otherwise, then you’re being too nice.”

Nick shifts a bit, and then explains. “People do things for two reasons, because they want to do it, or they have to do it. If he doesn’t want to stay, then you just have to show him a compelling reason why he has to.”

Eyebrows furrow above purple eyes as the doe intently stares at the smiling fox. “And how do I do that?”

A smirk now forms on the fox’s face. “Ahhh, that my dear is where having a con-mammal for a boyfriend comes in handy.”

Suddenly parting his muzzle in a huge, fangs revealing yawn, an event that should cause fear in the bunny, but instead, surprisingly, just raises the warmth level of her nether regions, Nick reaches towards the doe and offers, “But for now, beautiful bunny, come cuddle up with me again, and let’s get some more shut-eye. Being ventilated and losing what feels like a liter of blood has me a bit tired. It’s still early in the morning. We can plot later.”

Judy shifts her body upwards towards the welcoming fox, but instead of cuddling, she raises her head, and Nick’s world suddenly becomes a focus of soft lips and the taste of bunny. Breaking their first kiss, Judy peers into eyes that are both surprised and content.

“If you are looking to get lucky with a bunny, Slick, keep using charming words like that with me.”

Nick laughs and then pulls the doe in close, arms and tail enveloping her.

“First of all, would I like that? Yes. Yes, I would,” Nick concurs, placing another kiss on the top of her head. “But, I don’t think this is the best time or place to explore that aspect. Perhaps when we’re done here, we can reconvene at your place.”

“Ugh. My place,” Judy laments. “I kind of let it go of it when I went back to Bunnyburrow. Even if I could get it back, the walls were a tad thin, and then there’s my neighbors, Bucky and Pronk. They’re a bit loud and eavesdrop on everything.”

Backing away a bit to look up at the fox, Judy poses, “How about your place?”

“Uh, well,” Nick hesitates, “It’s not exactly up to snuff for visiting beauties. But, give me a head start, and I’ll get it into shape.”

“In that case, Slick, you’re on notice. Because after we fix this problem, I’m coming knocking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter I've been anxious to get posted in that it brings Nick back into the story (allowing for some heart-warming Wildehopps), and sets up the building showdown between Judy and Palver (yes...that's a tease).
> 
> Arivelle didn't send me back for rewrites (other than minor edits), so I think I got this chapter right. I'll look forward to your comments to see if you agree.
> 
> Lordy...


	11. Conflicts

The doe’s eyes begin to flutter as a conflict currently wages within. Her internal clock tells her that morning will soon begin, and that it is time to rise and be active. Her subconscious, feeling the warm and wonderfully comforting embrace of the fox to whom she is currently nestled, attempts to squash all thoughts that would have her detach from this heavenly nest. Still in twilight doze, her subconscious also desires to mark her mate and has her raising her chin to press against the tod’s chest only to suddenly jerk away as her conscious overrides her pending action, waking her and winning the battle for the morning.

The abrupt movement stirs the fox who yawns deeply and opens his eyes to see the bunny separated from him with eyes wide open, nose twitching, and ears and cheeks bright pink.

Fearing that his yawn may have caused distress to the doe, Nick swiftly covers his exposed fangs with a front paw.

“I’m sorry, Carrots. Did I frighten you?”

“No!” Judy reacts, her ears now rigidly vertical and turning a deeper shade of red. Sitting up to distance herself further from the source of her embarrassment, she quickly fabricates, “I just woke up myself and forgot where we were. I was startled.”

“Aww...was my wittle bunny scared?” Nick baby talks as he sits up and reaches with a paw to pat the doe’s head.

Rabbit eyes narrow. “Slick, you’re coming dangerously close to having a sore shoulder all day.”

Laughing, the fox’s oversized paw shifts to bring Judy into a loving embrace, a kiss applied to her head. Initial, surprised resistance from the doe quickly vanishes as she melts into the tod’s arms, snuggling into the cream-furred chest, her nose pressed into his chest ruff. Although this time, she’s very aware of where her chin is positioned.

Deeply regretting that which was weighing on her mind to this point, Judy pulls back slightly to address the tod.

“Nick, we really have to talk about today. There’s still a lot to cover.”

Sighing, Nick reluctantly releases the grey-furred bunny, falling to his back on the bed. “Fine. Let’s work through your dilemma.” Rising to an elbow, he eyes the doe and then adds while leering, “But if we’re going to do that, it may help if you get dressed first. Seeing you sitting there mostly in fur will only make my mind wander towards more lecherous thoughts.”

Ears go deep pink again as a bashful smile spreads on the doe’s face.

“Well...we can’t have that, can we?” Judy responds with a light laugh, and then, after giving the fox one last look and shaking off a desirous shiver of her own that finds its way down her spine, she jumps to the floor to retrieve her clothes.

“Let’s find you something too. I can’t say that my thoughts aren’t going to be distracted with you sitting here only in boxer shorts,” she suggests.

“Well, I am rather irresistible,” Nick boasts, giving the doe a wink. He then lowers himself to the floor where he suddenly halts and begins parting his fur around his stomach.

“You sure I was shot?” He asks.

“Yes. The bullet went completely though. Savana General surgeons closed the wounds, but Dr. Rocky did what he called...umm…’integrity finish repair’. It’s the same thing he did to my leg that almost makes it look like there was no cut. See?” Judy offers, displaying the tod her naked leg where the repair had been performed.

Nick gives a long look and then puffs his cheeks, blowing out a calming breath. “OK. You can get dressed now. After holding you all night, if you keep flashing fur, I’m going to override my earlier thoughts on this not being the best time or place.”

Judy giggles as she grabs her clothes, donning them quickly. “There. Now you can be serious,” she reports, buttoning up the top.

“Doubtful,” Nick retorts with a chuckle while opening a nearby cabinet door and finding a stack of clothes. “These seem to be fox sized,” he reports.

“You’ll probably find them custom made. Doc scans your shape and then sends the measurements to Replication where they can quickly create an outfit. They call it Deep 3D printing.”

“Huh...They have all sorts of neat tricks here. Don’t they?” Nice ponders as he dresses quickly.

Hopping on the guest chair, Judy takes a seat and hugs her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. Her ears drop as she considers the tod’s comment. “That’s another thing that bothers me.”

Closing the final button on his fabricated shirt, Nick looks across at the doe. “What’s that?”

“All this!” Judy explains waving her arm around the room. “All the knowledge and technology they have here! Why aren’t they offering it to Zootopia? Do you have any idea how many lives could be saved or suffering ended if our doctors had this equipment? Our lives would be so much better!”

“Hmm…” Nick considers, looking around. “I wonder if I could get the franchise rights. It would certainly make me the richest fox in Zootopia.”

“Nick! Please be serious!” Judy chides. “This isn’t about money.“

Nick’s head whips towards the doe, a sharp, serious look crossing his face. “It’s always about money, Judy. Live half your life hustling on the streets, and you’ll understand that.”

Judy freezes a moment. The sudden, serious tone from the tod combined with the use of her name causing her to reset. Her features then soften with her eyes pleading at the tod, “Please, Nick?”

Returning to the bed, Nick climbs up on it and meets the doe’s eyes again.

“You’re asking me not to be a fox,” he challenges.

“I’m asking you to be the one with whom I fell in love. The one who is so much more than a street fox. The one that I trust so much that I wanted him to be my partner.”

Nick’s shoulders slump, as he exhales a breath in defeat.

_What is this rabbit doing to me?!_

“Fine,” Nick finally laments. “Sly fox switch is turned off. Let’s work through your problem.”

Before Judy can speak again, Nick holds up a paw.

“Look, Judy,” Nick starts, again gaining a quick breath from the doe on the use of her name, “This is pretty straightforward. Now that you realize what the Foundation is, you want Palver and the whole kit and kaboodle to be revealed. The members, the technology, and the whole history. Am I right?”

Judy considers for a moment and nods before the tod continues on.

“Sweetheart, one of the things that I love about you, and that list is very long, is your optimism and how you see everything as black and white,” Nick starts. “You already see Zootopia as a finished utopia instead of the cliff edge it teeters on. Palver is right to keep the Foundation a secret. For you the truth is liberating. For me, it is profitable. For others, it could be terrifying.”

“Bellweather was right,” the tod sighs. “Fear is a great motivator, and the fear of having new technology used against one group, be it prey or predator would drive society into action and possibly violence to stop the other. Even the Zootopian Defense Force couldn’t hold things together, nor would we want it to come to that. Some truths are best kept secret.”

Judy considers the fox’s words. “I’m not so one-dimensional that I want the truth to be revealed just for truth’s sake. I’m worried, Nick. We just came off a case where one group kept predator madness a secret, which allowed another group to nearly undermine all of Zootopia. Secrets in the wrong hands can tear apart this society just as easily as the truth can. I trust Palver because he has two-thousand years of positive results to show for his secrecy, but he’s not coming back. Do you trust the mammal who takes over after him? What about the mammal after that? Given your insights into other mammal characters, how confident are you that the Foundation will continue to be a benevolent and altruistic group?”

“Truer words were never spoken, Carrots. Good thing I’m shades of grey and not the world-saving type or I might lose a lot of sleep thinking about that.”

Judy huffs and throws the short rabbit-robe at Nick which was sitting on the chair where she had discarded it. “I can’t leave things like this, Nick. WE can’t leave things like this. You might pretend you can turn your back on this, but there’s a lot more of the world-saving type in you than you want to admit.”

Nick walks over to Judy, holds her and kisses the top of her head, letting his snout nuzzle the soft fur between her ears. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m beginning to agree with you on that. Unfortunately I’m new at the saviour role, so I might need some help from time to time to remember that.”

Judy nods, her face rubbing on the fox’s shirt. “Thank you, Nick. I can see now that this is difficult for you too, and it’s only going to get harder as Palver is going to ask you to face the PRG.”

“Yeah, that part I’m still struggling with,” Nick bemoans. “I don’t get why he thinks I could possibly help.”

“He does, because somehow he’s seen your part in this,” Judy explains, pulling apart to look into emerald, “I already have faith that you can help, because I’ve already seen how great you are.”

Nick raises his head, aimed at the ceiling as he closes his moistening eyes.

“I don’t deserve you,” he softly says, and then lowers his head, meeting her eyes again.

“Maybe,” the doe kids, “but it doesn’t matter as I’ve decided that you do.”

Judy’s tension begins to drain away as she relaxes in the fox’s embrace. “Perhaps in this case I should consider things more like you do.”

“Wondering what this machine does and whether we can smuggle it out of here?” Nick jokes, with a hint of seriousness.

Judy laughs at Nick’s caricature of himself. “If black and white won’t work, what options do we have in shades of grey?”

“Now that, I can help you with.” Nick resounds, his eyes gleaming as he feels their conflict resolving and moving to something collaborative.

Smiling, Judy hugs the tod again, a smile on her face. “Deal, Slick. Now, how am I going to get Palver to change his plans?”

“Hustle him,” Nick quickly responds, placing another kiss on the doe’s head. “You’ll figure it out. You did it to me.”

“Yes. Yes I did,” Judy laughs, hugging the fox tighter. “What about you and the PRG?”

“OK, rabbit. If you’re willing to curb your optimism and let the Foundation’s status quo be unchanged while pushing a two-thousand year old mammal to change his life plans, then I suppose I can do my part of their great plan.”

Suddenly, a lagomorphic ear shoots up, opened towards the door.

“Oh boy...The last time we were hugging and your ear did that, I got shot,” Nick groans.

“No one is going to shoot you. But, somebody is coming,” Judy reports.

Separating from the doe, Nick returns to the diagnostic bed, climbing on it as Judy jumps onto the visitor chair. Moments later, the door clicks and begins to open.

“It’s showtime, Carrots,” Nick states as both settle in and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me open with my continued thanks for the comments and thoughts. I haven’t added much in the way of author comments over the past few chapters as I was just letting the story run. But, given the recent (and consistent) comments from CombatEngineer and hk201, I thought I’d add some inside story as your comments were mirroring a loooong chat conversation that I was having with Arivelle.
> 
> First of all, this chapter didn’t exist in the original drafts. I noted before that the story has been (mostly) drafted and other than edits, it was ready to go.
> 
> Chapter 11 (“Conflicts”) is the exception…
> 
> After reviewing Chapter 10 “Comfort” and the upcoming chapter (now Chapter 12), Arivelle came to me with a concern that there was too much of a gap to get from Chapters 10 to 12, specifically Judy’s and Nick’s mindsets. I was leaning towards “revealing bits” (as Krayzfan1 suggests) in Chapter 12. Arivelle suggested a more detailed “heart to heart” discussion which would set the tone for Chapter 12. Her argument was “I don't see Judy understanding Zootopian culture ending. She's an optimist who will always think that giving people the truth will benefit them the most. It's a strength/weakness of her character…”
> 
> Backed up with this from the internet:
> 
> "Personality... strong-willed, self-motivated, and endlessly optimistic. Judy believes the world is a great place and she can help it be even better. Even when she’s surrounded by cynicism and grim prognostications about the future of Zootopia, Judy never loses focus on the case in front of her. Lives are at stake and Judy won’t let politics, prejudice, or any lingering self-doubt get in her way."
> 
> Thus, character canon says that Judy would want openness and truth. Nick, on the other hand, is the shady street fox, but understands mammal behavior extremely well and would see the ramifications of the openness. Combine those two, and you (hopefully) get Chapter 11.
> 
> So, back to the writing table, and Chapter 10.5 (now Chapter 11) was created.
> 
> Again, thanks for the comments. I just thought that given the back-channel discussion going on between Arivelle and myself, you might appreciate the irony of your comments.
> 
> The “newly retitled” Chapter 12 is coming shortly, after I adjust the opening to better fit the end of “Conflicts”.


	12. Hustle

As the MedLab door slides open, the raccoon physician enters to find both fox and bunny dressed and sitting up in the room. Judy comfortably lounges in the visitor chair as Nick remains perched on the bed, con-mammal mask firmly in place.

“Ah good. You’re awake and up,” Rocky announces as he walks into the room to innocent smiles from both. “Don’t strain yourselves trying to look so guiltless. The night nurse had already informed me of the cuddle session you two were doing last night.”

Both sitting mammals react with jaw drops.

“Cameras, mammals,” the doctor quips. “She turned it on to check-in after the monitors went nuts...something about the occupancy number of the bed exceeding one.”

Ears blush red on both fox and rabbit as heads start whipping around, looking for lenses.

“Don’t fret it. She turned them off once she realized what she saw,” Rocky concludes with a wave of a paw as he approaches Nick. “Good to see you awake. I’m Doctor Rocky, and I suspect you’ve already been briefed by the young doe here as to events to this point.”

“In fairly good detail, yes,” Nick responds.

“Excellent. I had expected you to be awake, but not necessarily ready to walk out the door. I will ask for you to hold on a bit, though. I’m sure once I report your recovery, Palver will want to chat with you,” the doctor notes. “In the meantime, I took the liberty to have some breakfast brought over from the Commissary. I assume you’re up to a meal, Nick?”

“Starving actually, Doc. Thanks. I was already considering eating a bunny,” Nick responds with a wink at Judy whose ears darken to deep red.

“Good. The nurse will bring it in shortly, and I’ll return in a bit,” Rocky states with a laugh before stepping out, only to be replaced by the blushing night nurse carrying a tray of small mammal sized plates and being trailed by two camels.

Setting the plates tray down, the nurse quietly apologizes, “I’m sorry I turned the camera on. I shut it off right away when I saw you.”

“It’s a shame you didn’t take a picture,” Nick bluffs. “I would have made it my phone’s background to show all the ladies how truly irresistible I am.”

Poor planning on the fox’s part had him leaning close to the bunny while making that comment, resulting in a well-deserved shot to the shoulder.

“You’re such a goof,” Judy chuckles.

“Yes, but now I’m _your_ goof,” Nick responds while rubbing his shoulder. He then places a kiss on the top of the bunny’s head, obtaining a roll of the eyes from the doe.

“I suppose you have _some_ redeeming features,” she quips.

“I have _many_ redeeming features, Fluff. Although, if you truly want me to join you on the force, you may want to consider switching shoulders. The Academy won’t accept me with a paralyzed arm.”

Laughing, the elder camel steps forward as the nurse exits.

“Miss Hopps, I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to greet you last night, but I am Gemel,” the greying camel welcomes, offering a two-toed, grey-furred front foot.

“Gemel, it’s an honor to finally meet you, but please call me Judy,” the bunny responds, shaking the offered foot and then points towards the tod, “The snarky one there is Nick Wilde, and Nick, that is Huby behind him. They’re the Foundation mathematicians.”

“A pleasure to meet you. I had heard that some of the finest mathematicians in Zootopia were camels. It’s an honor to meet two of the exceptional ones,” Nick greets while surveying the plates, selecting some sliced turkey and cheese from one of them.

“See, Gemel. We just met and already he sees how exceptional we are,” Huby jokes.

“You’re just exceptionally in the way. Doc is coming back,” the elder camel retorts, pointing down the hall, as moments later, Rocky reenters the room and surveys the group.

“Judy, would you stand please?” he requests, and the bunny rises from her chair.

Taking the guest chair, Rocky pushes it towards the rear of the room, turning it to face the hallway. Relieving Nick of his breakfast plate, the doctor instructs. “Nick, please sit here in the chair. And Judy, would you mind sitting by him, in his lap preferably?”

The tod moves over and sits on the chair, a quizzical look on his face. “What’s this about, Doc?”

“Trust me, please,” Rocky responds quickly. “I’ll explain in a minute.”

“OK, Carrots. Your throne awaits,” Nick states, slapping his thighs. Judy, having no idea as to why the doctor would request this, but having no reason to disagree, shrugs her shoulders and hops up onto the offered lap. Turning around, she sits and snuggles with her back against his chest as the tod’s arms automatically wrap around her, his muzzle resting easily between her ears.

“Not that I’m complaining, Doc, because I’m not, but what’s this all about?” Nick inquires.

“Palver is coming down to meet you, and the first meeting can be stressful even to the point of bringing on violent tendencies. Having an armful of your girlfriend should help,” the physician responds.

“You talk as if I’m savage, Doc. The bullet didn’t contain Nighthowler. I think I can contain myself.”

“Then, this should be easy,” Palver says stepping into the doorway between and slightly behind the camels.

The growl echoes off the walls, drowning out all other sounds in the room.

“Nick!” Judy yells at the snarling fox, and before he can lift off the chair, the doe spins around, grabbing him by the collar. “Stop that! He’s not going to hurt you or me!”

Nick’s growls subside as he sits back into the chair while Judy rubs her face against his to settle down his hammering heart and heavy breathing.

Taking a deep breath and holding her tight against him, he finally swallows. “Wow...Thanks, Carrots. I’ve never had that kind of reaction to any mammal.”

“Actually, that’s not a bad recovery time, Mr. Wilde,” Palver assesses. “Prey generally want to flee, and overcoming their flight instinct takes time. A predator’s first instinct is to attack. Your influence on the restraint of our fox friend is rather impressive, Ms. Hopps.”

“Yeah, you should have seen when Wolford first came here,” Huby recalls. “We had to put him in another room with a clear window between him and Palver. Even then we weren’t sure that the wolf wasn’t going to come through the glass.”

“Who’s Wolford?” Nick asks softly into the bunny’s ear.

“A wolf ZPD officer,” Judy explains. “He was recruited into the Foundation and helped bring you here.”

“Ahh,” Nick comprehends, and then looks at the towering human. “That’s a dangerous move then, just walking in like that.”

“Not quite that brave of me,” Palver laughs. “I’m still standing in the hallway and have two, big camels between us.”

“Besides,” he continues. “Having Judy here was the key. I know a bit about fox psychology, and having your mate nearby would force you into a protective mode versus attack as long as I didn’t advance on her.”

Judy almost giggled when she felt Nick freeze over her “mate” designation.

“Uh...we’re not mates,” Nick tries.

“I’ll let you discuss that with the young lady you are currently hugging. I suspect you’ll lose that argument, though,” Palver says stepping forward between two laughing camels.

“As long as we’re together,” the Foundation leader then states, getting serious, “I would like to discuss the current situation and your part in resolving it.”

“Yeah, Carrots clued me in on your plans here. I can’t say I’m very thrilled with it as I’ve spent a lifetime staying under the radar, so to speak. But, if you can convince her, then I’ll consider it,” Nick responds, looking down at the now seated bunny to find purple staring up at him.

“Convince...her?” Palver asks, thrown off-guard.

“Your move, Fluff,” Nick states, and then the doe turns to face the human. Eyes narrow on the bunny as her arms cross.

“Why are you leaving us?” she challenges.

Palver’s eyes go wide as Huby audibly gulps behind him. Turning towards the younger camel, the Foundation leader sighs. “You Bastard, what did you tell her?”

Judy jumps down, forepaws on hips. “I don’t think that language is needed!”, only to get a chuckle from Gemel.

“That’s his name, Judy,” the older camel clarifies.

Anger on the bunny’s face is suddenly replaced by surprise. “His name’s not Huby?”

“Nickname,” Huby corrects, and then chuckles. “Gemel didn’t want to go around swearing all the time. So, he gave that name to me shortly after I met him.”

Surprise morphs into confusion on the doe’s face, prompting Huby to continue with his explanation.

“I was raised by a foster parent who, well let’s just say, had anger issues. I may have had a real name early on, but all I ever knew was ‘You Bastard’, which became ‘You B.’ which is why the ‘H’ isn’t pronounced, because it isn’t really there.”

“Wow. Makes me feel a little better about the plight of foxes,” Nick comments.

“Yeah. Well, ol’ Pops had some good aspects when he wasn’t flying off the handle. For instance, he had a love for math, and to disappear at times, I would borrow a book or two and hide in my room reading them.”

“Huby had a real aptitude, and that got him to the college where I was teaching at the time. Shortly after graduation, I recruited him into the Foundation,” Gemel finishes.

“Since my family was rather non-existent, it was easy for me to join the Foundation and disappear from real life,” Huby adds.

“That’s a touching life story, but irrelevant as you’re picking on the innocent, Palver,” Rocky finally interrupts from the side of the room. “He didn’t tell her. I did. Well...actually, I just answered her question of ‘Where’s the next clone?’.”

Looking up at the Foundation leader, the physician snaps, “Look! She’s smart and inquisitive. You didn’t think she would ask?”

Frowning, Palver turns towards the glaring bunny before him, looking down into sharp amethysts. Taking a slow breath, he starts. “Fine. I’ve analyzed the situation, and our mission will complete before the end of my current host. So, there’s no need for me to regen again.”

“Thirteen percent chance? You’re betting all of this,” Judy says pointing around the room, “on only thirteen percent?!”

The leader turns towards Huby again. “She had to get that from you.”

Two camel paws rise. “OK. Guilty on that one. But, she was relentless with her questions. Gave me ‘that look’,” Huby tries to defend. “I had no choice but to tell her.”

“Face it, Palver. None of us want you to leave,” Gemel pleads to the agreement of the other Foundation team.

Closing his eyes for a moment, centering himself, Palver turns towards the bunny again.

“How many rabbits are there?”

Judy shakes her head quickly for a moment, trying to process the question. “What? Why?”

“The population. The sign outside of Bunnyburrow tracks total population of the Commonwealth, right?”

“Ummm...yes,” she admits.

“What is it, a little over eighty million? It used to be higher, until the Calicivirus plague of the 60’s, right?” Palver drives.

“Well, yes. Our population is nearly recovered now. But, I don’t see--,”

“Twelve million dead. Twelve!” Palver erupts, and then adds, “The death count would have been over twice that or more if Jonas Salak had not pleaded with me to let him intercede.”

“Dr. Salak was here?! Nobody could find him after he saved so many in the Commonwealth. They say he just disappeared,” Judy says in amazement.

“Jonas was my mentor,” Rocky states, looking down. “He was brilliant, but very private. He never wanted any of the public spotlight. After he stopped the virus, he returned here and only left the Foundation once to recruit me. That’s why nobody could find him.”

“What does that have to do with you regenerating?” Judy asks the Foundation leader.

“You don’t get it. I could have stopped it earlier!” Palver laments, hands smoothing head hair in frustration. “We had the technology. Jonas had isolated the Haemorrhagic Virus and developed the vaccine. But, I stopped him in the beginning from taking action. I was afraid of exposing the Foundation, ending all of our work and losing Zootopia. Do you have any idea what that means? I let them die! Twelve million!”

“He begged me to let him help! That quiet, proper, honorable anteater pleaded with me every day as the numbers grew. I ordered our agents to work to keep the virus from spreading out of Deerbrooke county. If it would save our work, I would lose Podunk.”

“But we failed, and it started to spread towards Bunnyburrow. When I saw that its greater population would be ravished next, I finally gave in, released Jonas, and joined the field agents to help the doctor work in secrecy as much as possible.”

So yes, Judy!” Palver adds pacing in the room. “When Seldon gave me a way out, I welcomed it! I never want to be in the position of having to choose to let millions of mammals die ever again!”

Judy looks back at Nick. The tod could already see her resolve start to crumble.

Leaning forward, he whispers in her ear, “We all have our demons. Remember what we talked about. But, I’ll back you either way.”

Nodding, the doe quietly considers for a moment.

“I’m not saying you have to come back. I’m just saying that I would like you to not close out that option. Doctor Rocky says you can still start a clone, but time is running out.”

Her eyes narrow as she studies the human. “I want a safety net. If the odds turn poor, we’ll need you to help bring us back again. That’s the price to convince me.”

Shaking his head, the Foundation leader considers.

“And, what if I don’t agree?”

“Then we walk. We wait for the civil war to break out, and I’ll bring in the rabbit army to end it.”

Judy’s eyes sharpen. “Then, I’ll bring that army here and drag you into the light of day. No more hiding. No more secrets. We’ll rebuild Zootopia based on truth.”

Palver’s jaw drops. “I can’t believe I’m being blackmailed.”

Judy smirks, cocking her hip. “It’s called a hustle, sweetheart.”

Nick laughs from behind the doe. “Oh, that is my girl!”

The tall, dark-haired human shakes his head, taking in a deep breath. Finally, he exhales and fixes his stare at the physician.

“Get set up in the lab. I’ll be there shortly.”

“YES!” The raccoon celebrates and quickly rushes over to the doe, giving her a hug. The camels high-two each other.

“You are now my favorite rabbit!” the doctor crows before scooting out of the room. The camels turn to follow.

“You know that we’re going to need the twins now,” Huby notes to the older camel.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll get to the university this week and recruit them,” Gemel responds.

“They have a cute older sister too,” the younger camel comments.

“You’re too old for her. You’re turning into a dirty old mammal.”

“I am not! I did the math!” Huby defends as they disappear from view.

Turning back towards the remaining pair, Palver studies the fox.

“You said you’d consider it if I convinced Judy. I’ve given into her demands. Now, what do you want?”

Nick stares intently at the human. “The truth.”

Palver catches for a moment before responding, “I don’t recall any lies.”

“Only of omission,” Nick clarifies rising from his seat, holding the chair momentarily for balance. “Pardon me for being a little jaded here, but I am a fox, after all. We’re used to looking for the underlying reasons for people’s behavior.”

Straightening up and stepping only a few paces from the taller human, the vulpin challenges, “Carrots tells me that you didn’t inform her why you and the others are guiding our society and its development. Why bother? What’s your angle?”

Palver stands quietly for a moment and then takes a seat on the examination bed, lowering himself closer to the tod’s height. “Amazingly, few have ever asked me ''What am I getting out of this?’. After the recruits overcome the shock of our existence, they’ve generally accepted that we’re guiding the society’s development, and altruism takes it from there. I guess it does take a fox’s viewpoint to probe.”

“Did Judy tell you why we’re here? On this planet?” the human asks the standing tod.

“Something about a war with others of your type that wrecked your planet.”

“Close enough,” Palver accepts. “She tell you the result?”

The fox nods, “You eliminated the other...uhh, primates.”

Leaning back a bit, Palver briefly scans the ceiling, considering his next words.

“It’s Guilt. Shame. Pick your noun,” he says softly. “We screwed up. We uplifted mammals and then enslaved them. It cost us the planet, and them their existence.”

Shaking his head slowly, the human continues. “I was a scientist in the lab, working with what was left of our technology. We only had the starhopper probes and one hyperlight transport craft left. Once we found this planet, we shoved as much in the ship as we could and fled. We made a pact that we would NEVER allow humans to do to mammals what we did on Earth, and mammals would not make the mistakes that we made. We would guide them, and when they surpassed us, we would disappear.”

“So you never intended to stay?” Judy asks.

Palver shakes his head again. “No. I would pass with the rest, and I certainly never thought I would stay so long that I’d have to make a call to let millions die.”

“Also, there was the concern that, although wrecked, Earth still exists. It’s been two-thousand years and not a peep has been heard. So, I suspect their technology has gone to dust. But, getting Zootopia to parity quickly would insure your continued existence...just in case.”

“Oh, boy…” Nick states with concern.

“Yeah,” Palver agrees. “That’s why keeping society moving forward and not letting it slide through civil war, religious tyranny or other calamities is critical.”

Looking up at the tod, the Foundation leader asks. “So, is that good enough? Are you signed up now, jaded fox?”

A short glance over to the doe, and Nick reads her acceptance. Turning back, he offers a paw.

“Agreed, human. Now, what do you need us to do?”


	13. Plan

“I never realized that the Calicivirus plague hit you so personally,” the physician racoon relates as he performs the cloning procedure in the Foundation laboratory. Sitting nearby in a raised exam chair, Palver closes his eyes, exhaling slowly.

“There’s a lot of my history that I try not to burden others with, Rocky,” the dark-haired human responds in a low-toned, soft voice. “It hasn’t been all roses and unicorns.”

“Palver, we’ve discussed this many times before,” Gemel interrupts from the doorway, Huby having returned to the Control Room. “I didn’t want to get into it again in the MedLab, but even Seldon agreed that without the delay to get our agents in place, there was a good chance that Dr. Salak would have been exposed as would the Foundation.”

“Twelve million, Gemel,” Palver reminds, opening his eyes to look at the camel.

“Any number was tragic,” the elder camel continues. “I’m not ignoring that. It’s just that the anguish to which you continually subject yourself over the delay in your actions may have been exactly what was needed to allow us to preserve the Foundation while saving the Rabbit Commonwealth and allow it to heal and prosper.”

Human and dromedary exchange a long look at each other, tangible emotions flowing between the two as the verbal switches to a non-verbal repeat of prior debates. Finally, Palver breaks the link, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, Gemel. I never signed up for this. Watching so many suffer, those that I’ve cultivated and cared for over the centuries, while I stood by. It was just too much.”

“I can understand that,” Gemel relates. “But, what about the upcoming situation?”

“It’s not going to be that way again,” Pavler responds quickly, eyes snapping up. “This will be different.”

“Why didn’t you tell them?” the Rocky interrupts.

“Their reactions need to be genuine when it happens. Otherwise, nobody will believe them,” Palver responds and then leans forward. “Are we done here?”

“Yep,” Rocky responds, removing sterile gloves. “I’ll start the incubation and let you know of success when I get the results.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Palver offers as he stands, and then places his oversized hand softy on the raccoon’s shoulder while extending his other hand to hold the elder camel’s foreleg. “Judy was right. We needed the safety net.”

Both mammals nod in agreement.

“I do wonder, though,” Rocky ponders. “Why did you resist it four years ago?”

Pavler pauses for a moment, choosing his words. “It’s personal, I guess. Once we start the procedure, there’s pressure to make the transference. If there is no new host, then there is no decision.”

“OK. I get it,” the physician concurs, nodding again. Then, with a chuckle adds, “But, If I knew that all it would take is an oversized, lagomorph foot kicking you in the backside to see it our way, I would have personally invited her here four years ago,” which also gains a laugh from Gemel.

Suddenly turning serious, Rocky reports, “About the situation, we’re getting early word. They haven’t figured it out yet, though.”

Palver pauses, taking a breath and thinking. “Are we ready to move?”

“We will be. Deep 3Ds have been cranking like crazy, and Bovid has the pots simmering.”

“Then send word to our agents,” Palver says and then adds to the camel before stepping out. “C’mon, old friend. Let’s get back to the Control Room. I’ll take care of Pete from there.”

\-------------------

The bright lit desk of the ZPD is shadowed only by a stack of donut boxes on one side. In the middle, the hips of an ever jubilant, if multiple plus-sized cheetah, sway to and fro to a recent hit by the pop singer Gazelle. Down the hall, the morning shift is about to exit the bullpen, ready to patrol the streets.

The big cat’s moves are suddenly halted by the ringing of his cell phone. Stopping the music, Benjamin Clawhauser notes the incoming number and quietly answers, “Spots here”.

“I see,” he adds soberly. “When? OK. How many? Oh...OK. Thanks.”

Ending the call, the cheetah pauses, a worried look on his face.

“Geeze Ben, what’s the matter?” Nadine Fangmeyer asks, having just exited the morning briefing.

Breaking from his melancholy, Clawhauser sputters. “Oh. Nothing. Nothing. Just my bakery. I, uhh, wanted some donuts for a party but they’re limited in one of the types I wanted.”

“Aww...well maybe you can get them somewhere else,” the tigress wishes.

“Yeah, thanks,” Clawhauser responds quietly, and then looking over, catches the eye of the tigress’ partner. A sad sigh is followed by a nod towards the grey wolf.

Acknowledging the silent communication, Wolford breaks eye contact and turns towards his partner. “Hey, Nadine. Let me drive today. I have an errand I need to run near Foxtown later this morning.”

“Oh, OK,” his partner responds. “And while we’re out, I can tell you about this strange dream I had. You were in it!”

\-----------------

There is nothing fancy or distinct about the building that houses the headquarters of the Predator Rights Group as it formerly was an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Foxtown area. The most noticeable features are the “PRG” insignia affixed above the doorway and the high ceilings, which does little for dampening noise generated within it.

And today, there is plenty of noise…

The PRG Council of Seven, the elected leaders of the organization, currently reside on their elevated chairs behind an arching dais that overlooks the central meeting room. Before them, the chamber is filled with agitated members, all demanding action over the latest incidents, Bellweather’s darting of predators to make them savage, and the latest, the shooting of a predator by a supporter of the ex-mayor.

“WE WANT JUSTICE!”

“SHEEP CAN’T BE TRUSTED!”

“YEAH! WE NEED TO STRING UP THE MAYOR AS AN EXAMPLE!”

“AND WHAT ABOUT THAT FOX? WHO TOOK HIM?!”

“Ahem! I suspect I can help you with that last question,” is suddenly heard from the rear of the room. The seated audience all turn to witness a red fox standing in the doorway, leaning on a cane and accompanied by a grey rabbit in ZPD blue.

\----------------

(Earlier that morning. Location: Foundation MedLab)

“So, how am I going to get them to halt their actions against the PDL? I’m just a fox.” Nick challenges the Foundation leader.

Palver had returned to the MedLab following the cloning procedure to meet with the two, small mammals and brief them on the plan.

“The PRG have been holding rallies at their HQ building,” he explains to Nick and Judy before readying the pair to exit. “That’s the best place to get their attention and redirect their actions.”

“You’re sending Carrots and me into the PRG den?!” Nick exclaims.

“Well, you are a predator,” the tall human offers, sitting in a chair nearby.

“That’s just the ante for my entrance into the room,” Nick refutes. “But, have you somehow missed over the past two-thousand years that bunnies don’t quite fit that same category?”

Before Palver can respond, the tod throws up a paw to halt him.

“Nevermind. If that’s where we need to be, then I can arrange it. But, we’re going to need a few things first,” Nick states as he considers. “Can you get me a cane, sized for an adult fox, and a replica ZPD uniform for Judy?”

“Cane, Nick?” Judy turns to ask, concern on her face.

“Image, Carrots. I was just shot, remember? Walking in without any indication of damage would raise all sorts of doubt. I’m going to have to redirect their questions on how it is I’m there and not in a hospital as it is.”

Reaching over and lightly grasping the lapel on the bunny, Nick adds, “And you in ZPD blue changes your status. They might not like the fact that you’re a prey species, but nobody is going to want to mess much with an officer.”

“I think Replication can arrange that,” Palver responds.

“Any hope that you rescued my clothes when you kidnapped me from the hospital?” Nick asks, looking down at the fabricated clothes he is currently wearing. “I wouldn’t mind getting them back.”

“They may not be the image you want when confronting the PRG, Nick,” Judy offers.

Nick’s eyes widen in shock, paw going to chest. “You wound me, Carrots. I’ll have you know that those Pawaiian shirts are 100% silk.”

“And, they make you look like a tourist,” Palver quips back before leaving. “I think we’ll find you something a little more authoritative to wear.”

\--------------

An hour later, Palver checks in after Replication has provided the requested items.

“OK, big chief. Once we get in, what’s the plan?” Nick interrogates.

“Do what you need to in order to get the Council’s attention. They’ll want to hear from you, because you showing up will toss a wrench into their plans of using you as a martyr. They’ll need another angle, and hope you’ll provide it.”

“And when I don’t?”

“Nick,” Palver offers calmly, “You underestimate yourself. All you have to do is point out that their direction will lead to ruin, and then guilt them into joining you.”

“Guilt them? How?”

“That’s where she comes in,” the tall human responds with an open hand now aimed at the quiet bunny.

“Me?!” Judy asks in surprise. “How do I fit in this?”

“Although you’re a prey animal in the midst of a predator’s den,” Palver explains, “you’ve done one thing recently that will garner favor among the PRG supporters.”

“She exposed Bellweather’s plot and stopped her,” Nick finishes, gaining a nod from the human.

“We did, Nick,” Judy corrects and receives a warm smile from the fox.

“But the predators don’t know that yet, Judy,” Palver clarifies. “You’re the hero of Zootopia to predators and prey, and you, Nick, need to steer the conversation to that point. After that, you’ll guilt them into following you.”

“Follow me to where?” the tod challenges.

Palver sits back in his chair, smiling. “Leave that to me.”

Nick watches the scheming face of the Foundation leader and then chuckles. “You’d make a good fox, human. You know, if you ever tire of this place and want to make a few bucks, we could--”

“No,” Judy interrupts firmly, fists on hips and foot tapping quickly. “Those days of yours are over, Slick.”

Nick sighs theatrically. “Alas, Palver, what’s a fox to do when he has suddenly inherited a conscience that’s two feet tall with lovely, soft grey fur and beautiful eyes that you can look at all day long.”

Judy melts.

Palver laughs. “You should listen to her. That’s what. Now finish dressing. You leave in fifteen minutes.”

\----------------

The silent van pulls up to the front of the Predator Rights Group Headquarters, whereupon exiting is a grey bunny in a ZPD uniform and a red fox wearing a matching, dark blue suit and carrying a polished ebony cane.

“I feel like a mobster in this getup,” Nick complains.

“Then you should feel right at home,” Judy quips back. “C’mon, Slick. We have a civil war to halt.”

“Slow down there, rabbit. You forget that you have an invalid following you,” Nick responds, feigning a limp.

Entering the foyer before the main hall, the pair find the doors barred by two security guards, a brown bear and a leopard.

“Let me handle these dum-dums,” Nicks whispers to Judy as they approach the guards.

“Only predators allowed inside,” the bear grunts, barring Judy from entering.

“Gentlemammals, I totally agree with your sentiment,” Nick begins, con-mammal facade locked in place. “But, we have a dilemma here in that the Council of Seven wants to know of my existence. Yet, the ZPD have saddled me with this bodyguard who must accompany me everywhere.”

“You’re the fox they keep asking about? The one who was shot?” the leopard asks in amazement.

“Indeed! One in the same,” Nick bows lightly, affecting a slightly discomforted look as if in pain. “But, the ONLY way the ZPD was going to let me out to give my report to this august body was with an escort.”

Dropping his voice slightly, knowing full well that lagomorphic ears could still easily hear, Nick continues with, “Between us, it’s a little embarrassing. I mean. She’s a rabbit. How much protection do you think a predator is going to get from that?”

Both guards snort a stifled laugh. “Yeah, not much punch from a puny prey,” the bear responds.

Judy’s attempts to remain unemotional over the overheard insults are tested as her eyes narrow at the group.

“Then, you can see my quandary here, my fine fellow predators.” Con-mammal smile firmly set. “I need to serve our kind, but I’m tethered to this...thing.”

Judy’s teeth start grinding…

Nick rubs his chin. “Perhaps if we were to consider her a servant, or repair mammal?”

“We did have to let that goat in last week,” the leopard offers.

“Yeah. Stupid Plumbers Guild sent that trash-muncher in here to fix a leaky pipe.”

“Precisely!” the tod encourages. “We’ll just consider her another service goat!”

Rabbit ears redden as blood pressure rises. Thoughts of vulpine mammalcide begin forming within the bunny’s head…

“OK,” the bear finally relents. “But, you have to keep an eye on her the whole time you're there. No letting her wander around.”

“Oh, agreed!” Nick assures. “As soon as I’m done doing my service, I’ll be happy to exit her out.”

Turning back to the internally steaming bunny, Nick smirks, “Come, Officer. Can’t have you wasting valuable taxpayer money just standing around.”

Judy stiffly joins the fox as Nick escorts her past the condescending guards and through the doors, which are closed behind them as they walk down the hallway towards the meeting room.

“Nick?” Judy says rigidly.

_Oh Boy. She’s pissed_, Nick assesses internally.

“Yes, Oh most beautiful and forgiving bunny?” Nick answers innocently, winning smile affixed and glowing.

“Are you aware that I knocked a rhino out in the sparring ring at the academy?”

_Not even a hesitation. This is trouble. Perhaps flattery?_

“Umm...Can’t say I am, Carrots. Quite an accomplishment,” Nick responds to the doe’s question.

“Are you also aware that sparring is a regular practice at the academy among recruits, and active duty officers sometimes are invited in to stay sharp?”

“Again, Fluff, you amaze me with trivia.”

“WE WANT JUSTICE!” The words echoing out from the meeting room greets them as they continue their walk down the hallway.

“Well, let’s just say that a certain fox may find himself in a ring soon, and that a certain active duty rabbit may just show up to show how much ‘punch’ this ‘puny prey’ has,” Judy says in her sweetest voice.

_OK, Rabbit. Enough of this._

“Judy,” Nick opens stepping in front of the doe and facing her, causing her to stop. The rare use of her name causes the bunny's eyes to widen and ears go rigid. “My shoulder can already attest to your level of clout. But, if you’re looking for a good workout with this fox, may I suggest an alternate activity that doesn’t require gloves, or for that matter, much else in terms of material adornments?” He adds with a leer.

Long ears redden and drop. “That’s not fair, Slick.”

“All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart, and sometimes it’s even more exciting when they occur together,” Nick responds, adding a quick kiss to the bunny’s head before moving on to the chamber doorway.

Redness spreads from the doe’s ears to cheeks, but Judy’s response is interrupted with the next series of shouts from the meeting room.

“SHEEP CAN’T BE TRUSTED!”

“YEAH! WE NEED TO STRING UP THE MAYOR AS AN EXAMPLE!”

“AND WHAT ABOUT THAT FOX? WHO TOOK HIM?!”

“Whoops! Hold that thought, Carrots. I think we were just given our opening.”

“Ahem! I suspect I can help you with that last question,” Nick loudly announces into the chamber, and then, before leading the doe into the room towards the audience podium, he adds, “Come, dear. Let’s go stop a war.”


	14. Aid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, to all who have posted messages, my thanks. And much appreciation to those dropping kudos too.
> 
> I have been adding some messages at the end of the chapters if they pertain to the content of the chapter (not wanting to create spoilers). But, I do have a topic I can bring to the top as it doesn't (necessarily) pertain to content, and that is "names". 
> 
> Canon has defined a number of names of the support casts, but mostly last names. First names are somewhat up for grabs. In order to not splinter it more, I've tried to hold to using first names that have been identified by stories already posted on AO3 or other hosting sites. For instance, Nadine, comes from ScaraMedn's "Barbed Wire Dreams" (which is an awesome story, BTW... bested perhaps by his "Hereafter"); although, ScaraMedn nicknames "Nadine" as "Naddie" or "Nads". 
> 
> Wolford has at least three first names that I've seen. Again, to keep from splintering it further, I've gone with "Fred" from Fox in the Hen House's "A bunny CAN go savage" (another great story). Again, he nicknames "Fred" as "Freddie", but still...
> 
> The moral of the story is that first names seem not to have canon. So, artistic license gets invoked as needed.
> 
> I did, however, find that Judy's middle name is "Laverne" and Nick's is "Piberius" per canon. That may show up...somewhere.
> 
> We'll just consider that a teaser :)
> 
> Lordy...

Clamor quickly dampens to quiet as Nick, feigning dependence on the cane in his left paw, limps slowly towards the central podium that faces the Council of Seven. On each side of the aisle, confused whispers transpire as the tod passes, followed only a few paces behind by a grey rabbit doe in ZPD blues.

Stopping before a podium with a connected gooseneck microphone, Nick reaches to the arm, adjusting downwards the angle of the pickup.

“Is this on?” Nick tests, satisfied to hear his voice echo from the high rafters.

“State your name and purpose before us, fox,” commands a puma, centrally seated on the dais, indicating the leader of the council.

Con-mammal facade kicks in as Nick implements his well practiced smile.

“Most certainly, your Grace. Nicholas P. Wilde, entrepreneur extraordinaire, and most recently, gunshot victim of a misguided sheep.”

A collective gasp crosses the room.

“We thought you were dead,” the council leader states.

“Thankfully, I am still very much alive due to the skill and diligence of the surgeons at Savana General along with some private benefactors who swiftly addressed a few complications,” Nick relates.

“But, how is it that you are here? You were just shot yesterday!” a badger, seated towards the end of the dais, challenges.

“The wound was seen as being worse than it was. Again, the wonders of our modern health care is to be credited.”

Before other questions can be raised by the Council, Nick quickly changes directions.

“Let’s not focus on how I’m here, but rather let’s discuss the why and what. For instance, why is the PRG giving the Prey Defense League all the reasons they need to start a civil war, and what possible outcome could come from this other than pain and suffering to predators?”

Holding up a hand to the Counsellors, Nick silences questions. “Tell you what. Let’s hold that question in favor of this fact. We are the reason the PDL exists. Face it. We’re predators. We’re big and toothy and scary with claws. Our ancestors used to eat the prey, and all we’re doing here is giving the PDL the opportunity to use fear of that fact to control us rather than addressing that fear, diffusing tensions, and taking their control away.”

“Easy for you to say,” the badger snarls. “We’ve seen the video of you hugging that bunny. Why is this disgusting prey even here?”

Nick’s smile broadens as gasps and negative mummers are heard from the audience from some of the members who recognize Judy.

_Thank you for doing my work for me, you blowhard badger_, Nick thinks.

Arms now widen to the council, the tod begins his pitch. “My fellow predators, this young rabbit officer with me today is not somebody that should be denounced, but rather celebrated for stopping a deranged mayor that was bent on creating the disorder that you are now perpetuating.”

Turning and looking at the doe, Nick’s smile softens. “She risked her life to find the truth and protect us predators from the unjust slander of becoming savages to which we were being subjected. Officer Hopps has done more in one day to end the unfairness heaped upon us predators than this entire body has done since its inception.”

Rumbles of conversation reach the fox’s ears, generally in agreement with his comments. Nick smiles again, feeling confidence growing and presses on.

“So, yes, I hugged a bunny. All of you should too!” Nick challenges, staring at each of the councillors. "In fact, if you made a habit of hugging a prey or two every day, that fear I mentioned before would evaporate, and the PDL would suddenly find themselves without any supporters. This is what is needed to allow Zootopia to become the ideal where anyone can be anything. We need to be Zootopians first, and no designation be it predator or prey should be greater than that. As Zootopians, our duty must be to make those other designations have as little importance as possible and rise to serve our city first.”

“We need to make the world a better place. This is what you learn from a bunny,” Nick says with a smile aimed again at the doe beside him. Her ears redden and drop with embarrassed modesty.

Suddenly, Nick’s attention is lifted towards the rear of the room as doors again open and two additional ZPD officers enter. A tigress holds back as a grey wolf comes forward towards the fox and bunny. Nick steps away from the podium for a moment as after a quick exchange between the wolf and rabbit, Judy’s ears shoot up rigidly.

“Excuse me a moment,” Nick announces to the council as he steps towards the officers.

“What’s wrong?” Nick asks Judy, reading her face.

“Nick, this is Wolford,” Judy introduces quietly, Nick swiftly acknowledging the connection. “He came here to tell me that the Foundation is tracking an outbreak of Yersinia Pestis in Little Rodentia.”

“Plague?!” Nick asks, eyes wide with astonishment.

“The Foundation has been concerned for years about deteriorating conditions in LR, Nick,” Wolford states. “It was just a matter of time before we saw a rise in flea counts, and we’re now seeing reports flood in of unchecked plague. The city council is going to be too slow to react before this becomes an epidemic.”

“But the PRG could,” Nick completes, shaking his head with understanding. “This was Palver’s plan all along, and why he wanted us here.”

“You guessed it,” the grey wolf concurs. “We’ve already prepped the vaccines and antibiotics, but we need numbers to act quickly, and you’ve got their attention. Our ZPD dispatcher, Clawhauser, is a Foundation field agent and has arranged for transportation. Buses will be here shortly.”

“Ha! No pressure then!” Nick chirps, and then turning towards Judy, requests, “Carrots, you need to go with Wolford. Get to Rodentia and coordinate the aid when it arrives. Wolford, I’ll get you the numbers, but get her safely out of here. This place is about to get rowdy.”

The wolf smiles and tosses Nick a salute. “Aye aye, sir,” and then both officers turn to leave.

Returning to the podium, the tod sees an irritated puma.

“Would you please explain the interruption?”

“One moment, Council Leader,” Nick requests, and then turning around to face the general audience, the tod loudly asks, “How many of you here have some form of medical training from physician through to even just first aid?”

A number of paws are raised.

“Great. Do you want to end the crisis between predator and prey and stop this pending, futile civil war? Meet me outside. It appears that Zootopia requires our service a lot sooner than I had expected.”

Taking his cane, the tod leaves the stand and limps forward with urgency towards the exit. Following him, curious numbers first trickle and then flood to follow as the room goes into an uproar.

\--------------

In the darkness of the Foundation Control room, two camels and a human watch the events in the PRG central chamber being streamed from one of the field agents. Palver quickly leans forward in his chair as he sees Wolford give a salute and swiftly exit with rabbit in tow.

“That brilliant wolf,” Palver laughs.

“What?” Huby asks.

“Just watch,” the Foundation Leader answers quickly and then punches a control button on the board in front of him, packaging the recorded video for transmit. Leaning over to the communications speaker pad to the left of his chair. Palver then punches a second button to the surveillance and communications team.

“Get me Pete.”

\-----------------

In the back offices of the ZNN newsroom, Peter Moosbridge, chief anchor of the evening news, sits back in his chair enjoying a hot cocoa and watching news feeds, his personal ritual before going on the air. To his right, a makeup artist is packing her supplies having already prepped the anchormammal for the cameras before she exits. All alone now, the moose is about to raise the steaming chocolate to his lips when he’s interrupted by the buzz of his cell phone. Eyes widen with surprise as he recognizes the call number.

Setting the cup down, Peter brings the tablet-sized phone to his ear and gives the code indicating that he is clear to speak.

“You got Antlers.”

“Pete, I’m sending you a video. Give it a quick view after I give you some news,” the Cervidae hears shortly before his phone dings from an incoming message.

“I got it. What’s up?”

Back in the Control Room, the Foundation leader leads towards the speaker. “There’s an outbreak of plague that is hitting Little Rodentia.”

“Sweet mercy!” comes out of the speaker in Peter’s voice. “How bad?”

“There will be casualties, but this time, we’re taking action.”

“You’re coming out?! You promised me an exclusive, Palver!” the moose complains.

“I’m not coming out. I’m working by proxy, and that proxy is Nicholas Wilde.”

“Wilde...as in shooting victim, Wilde?” Peter asks.

“And direct descendent of the peace treaty signer, yes. Now watch the video,” the Foundation leader requests and sits back in his chair, waiting patiently.

“Is that Wolford?” he hears from the speaker.

“Yes. I sent him there with the news.”

“Wait. I have to see this again. Hold on,” Moosebridge requests and a pause occurs on the connection. “Did that wolf just salute Nick after what it appears that Nick was giving out orders to him and... I’ll assume that’s Judy Hopps as there are no other rabbit cops that I’m aware of.”

“Right on both accounts.”

“Nick looks like a field general barking out orders that ZPD is taking,” Peter assesses. “And then, what, a quarter of the attendees follow him out of the room? He just stole a good portion of the PRG!”

“They’re on their way to provide aid to the victims. ZPD brought in buses.”

“This is gold, Palver! Who else has this video?!”

“Just you. I’ve always promised you exclusives, Pete.”

“What do you need from me?” the anchormammal quickly asks.

“I need you to play up Nick on your broadcast. Direct descendent of a peace treaty signer interrupts the PRG’s agenda to bring aid to disaster impacted prey. You’ll get lots of video coming up showing predators saving prey. Can I count on you?”

“You don’t even need to ask, Palver. I’ve been a Foundationer ever since you saved me from the streets, long before I even became a beat reporter. I owe you my career, if not my life.”

“Let me get this to production and then berate my lazy investigators for missing a huge story that my ‘informal sources’ found first. This will grab an easy plus five share when I broadcast it in an hour. I’ll get my group working on Nick’s backstory.”

“Good luck with that,” Palver laughs. “He’s been pretty well underground until recently. Concentrate on his recent shooting and assisting Judy with the Bellweather arrest, and you should be fine.”

“Thanks, Palver, as always. Watch the broadcast later.”

“Will do. And thanks, Pete,” Palver concludes, breaking the connection.


	15. Saved

The chestnut oak tree has flourished at the outskirts of Little Rodentia for as long as anyone can remember. Some would think it ironic that a huge, majestic tree like this would cast its evening shadow over the smallest of the Zootopian citizens. But currently, as its outline barely touches the district’s boundary line, it serves a different purpose, a resting place for a weary bunny dressed in a dusty ZPD uniform.

“Hey beautiful, come here often?” Nick deadpans, taking a seat next to the grey-furred doe, both with backs resting against the huge tree.

Judy snorts a laugh. “That was terrible, Slick.”

“Yes, but it got you to laugh,” the tod declares with a huge smile as he hands her a small cup of water. “You look like you could use this.”

“Thanks,” Judy responds, draining the cup. “I’ve been running in and out of LR since I got here, going building to building and door to door to find victims. I just needed to rest my legs for a bit.”

“No one is questioning you, dear,” Nick consoles. “Once ZNN broadcasted the news about the plague and the PRG volunteers rushing in to the rescue, our numbers were quickly bolstered by the prey community. We’ve got it covered. You earned a break.”

“Hmmm…” Judy hums, closing her eyes briefly, head now resting against the fox’s arm.

Nick shuffles a bit, letting Judy find a comfortable spot to rest against him as he muses, “It’s been incredible watching predators and prey working together to rescue victims and help in their care. Rocky is here with all the medical supplies that the Deep 3D printers were making and directing the PRG volunteer medical teams to inoculate and administer the antibiotics that the Foundation lab was fermenting.”

“I saw you guiding the media around too, showing all the efforts. You looked like such a leader,” the doe complements.

“Yeah, well...” Nick modestly agrees rubbing a paw down the back of his head. “I was just executing the plan while keeping the media away from Rocky. Don’t want any questions about who he is and where all the supplies came from.”

“It’s just another hustle to me,” the tod jokes with a grin, gaining a small laugh from the bunny. “Besides, Doc says he inoculated us while in the MedLab. So, I can walk around and look like I’m impervious to the plague while others are cowering. Really polishes up the savior image.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that ‘tetanus’ shot he gave me, I found it odd that the ER wouldn’t have included that. We were set up for this from the beginning, weren’t we?”

“They are devious. I’ll give them that, and that’s some praise coming from a fox.”

Judy agrees, and then switches topics, looking up at the tod. “Hey, Nick. I have a question for you.”

“Sure, Carrots. Fire away.”

“When you introduced yourself at the PRG headquarters, you included your middle initial. What does the “P” stand for?”

Complete silence occurs. Even the wind seems to pause.

“Nick?” Judy prods.

“It, uh, stands for nothing. Just a letter, Fluff,” Nick finally responds, con-mammal smile now aimed at the bunny.

“Yeah...Nice try, Slick. Not buying it. Come on. Fess up.”

Nick drops his head back, resting it against the tree and closes his eyes. “It’s an old family name, Carrots. I’d rather not say it.”

Judy waits a moment and then nods her head, finalizing an internal decision. Swinging around, the doe stands and retakes a seat, now straddling the fox’s legs, pinning him down. The wide-eyed surprised look on the tod’s face is met by scheming, bedroom eyes of the doe.

“Oh, sweetie,” Judy coos as she runs a paw alongside his muzzle. “There’s going to be a time coming up shortly when I’m going to ask you all sorts of questions, and you’re not going to be able to deny me any of the answers.”

Both paws now bracket his muzzle as the doe’s lips come tantalizingly close to his.

“So, why don’t you just be a good boy, answer this simple question now, and leave time for the more difficult ones later?”

Nick’s ears pin back as his eyes get wider. “That’s just cruel, rabbit.”

“A wise fox once told me that’s all fair in love and war,” the doe calmly responds, now applying soft kisses to the side of the tod’s muzzle.

_I’m doomed!_ Nick laments internally.

“Piberius,” he says abruptly and shuts his eyes again, awaiting his fate.

“There, now that wasn’t so--,” Judy begins only to suddenly snort a laugh as her conscious evaluates the tod’s answer. “Piberius? Truly?”

Pulling away from her touch, Nick sighs. “It was a great-uncle’s name, I think. But originally, it came from the second son of the peace treaty signer.”

“Well, I can see why you’re a little sensitive about it,” Judy consoles, but not before convulsing in giggles.

“Sure! Laugh it up, fluff-ball. So, what’s your middle name?” the fox challenges.

“Laverne,” Judy responds while dampening the giggles.

A silent pause while Nick contemplates.

“OK. I got nothin’. It’s a good name."

"Um hmm." Judy hums, lips becoming busy with the tod's.

Pulling away, she adds. "That was for being a good boy and coming clean."

"I get the feeling that there's going to be a lot of ‘coming clean’ in my future," Nick relents, but then just before leaning forward for a second helping adds. “But, if this is what I get for payment, I’ll buy a pallet of soap.”

Breaking from the kiss to collective sighs. The tod rubs his muzzle lightly down the doe’s face to her shoulder, light enough to leave scent, but not enough to mark her. “What are your parents going to say when you tell them your boyfriend is a fox?”

Judy suddenly goes rigid, Nick quickly detecting a scent of fear.

“Carrots?”  
`  
“I forgot about them,” she whispers. Ears are rigid, eyes wide and nose twitching as she stares at the fox.

“Cheese and crackers, Nick! With everything going on, I completely forgot about them!”

Jumping up and quickly fumbling through her pockets, the doe digs out a phone whose battery is as dead as the bunny feels she is about to become.

“I took the truck yesterday, drove here to find you, and completely forgot to call them! They’re going to kill me, Nick! I’m surprised they haven’t shown up here already! What am I going to do?!”

Chuckling, the tod stands up and retrieves his own phone that is currently tethered to a power bank. Disconnecting them, he hands the charger over to the terrified bunny, saying, “A certain apologetic alpaca nurse stopped by here and was kind enough to bring me my phone and a charger. How about if I head back to the tent while you beg for forgiveness?”

“Oh, and say ‘Hi!’ for me,” Nick chuckles as he is about to turn to walk away, but fails to avoid the lightning-fast, shoulder punch.

“Oww! OK. I deserved that one,” he admits, rubbing his shoulder as he performs a hasty exit to avoid more physical abuse.

Not far away, fox hearing is good enough to hear the “ping” of a phone coming to life and the “beep” of successful video connection, swiftly accompanied by “Hi Mom! Hi Dad! I’m so sorry that I…No! I couldn’t! My phone was dead!...Yes, I know I just ran off…The news? They overplayed it!...Yes, I know I was hugging a fox. But…but…”

Finally out of earshot, the tod begins laughing in earnest. Quieting now, he pauses as before him stretches a long, white tent, serving as the emergency medical center. Eyes closed for a moment, Nick hears activity inside.

_Hustling days are over, aren’t they, Wilde? There’s no disappearing now._

_I’ve played the part the Foundation needed and saved a city from plummeting into war. I suppose I should be happy about that._

_But, what do I do now?_

A snap of a twig from behind breaks Nick’s internal turmoil. Turning, he sees a chagrined bunny coming up to him. Getting a quick “thanks” for the use of the charger, the tod suddenly finds himself wrapped again in a soft, rabbit-furred hug.

_Oh, right. This is what I do now._

“You OK?” he inquires, a soft kiss again applied to the doe’s head between her ears.

“Yeah. I just have to go home for a bit after this is over. I’ll need to settle things with my parents.”

“You know, if it will help, I could join you and perhaps show the folks that this fox isn’t so bad,” Nick offers.

A smile now appears on Judy’s face. “Thanks. I was hesitant to ask, but that may help a lot.”

“Done. Now, c’mon,” Nick separates from the hug and encourages while taking a rabbit paw into his own. “Let’s go see the good that we’ve done today.”

Together, fox and rabbit circle around the makeshift tent that serves as a triage center and enter. In the middle, Rocky is seen moving between tiny patients, instructing volunteers on proper treatments. As the pair finally catch up to the physician, he bends to look over a recently delivered victim, a tiny rat pup.

“What’s up, Doc?” Nick asks in a parody of a children’s cartoon bunny.

Rocky looks at the tod, the fleetest of smiles finding the raccoon’s lips at the poor attempted humor. But, his lips fade to a sigh as he looks back down.

“Wolford brought him here,” the physician starts, words coming slowly. “A squirrel found him as they were searching the west side. The parents were by him, but were already deceased. This little one was curled up next to the mother, coughing from the spreading infection.”

Another sigh, as the raccoon’s shoulders slump. “I know, as a healer, I’m supposed to be detached from my patients during crises like this. But, when you’re in the middle of it, it’s really, really difficult.”

A pause, and the raccoon tilts his up his head, eyes watery as he sniffs. “But, I should take some comfort in that, this time, the Foundation is taking early action. If Palver hadn’t planned for this, the situation would be much worse.”

“Is the pup going to live?” Judy asks quietly.

“We’ll see in a day,” Rocky responds, clearing his throat. “Thanks to Wolford’s quick thinking, we were able to start treatment immediately.”

“He’ll be an orphan,” the doe softy says.

“Tragically, there will be many of those today, sweetheart,” Nick sadly assess. “The plague spreads quickly. We can’t save them all.”

“No,” Judy responds, eyes on the infant rodent. “But, at least we can save one.”


	16. Regeneration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time jump +25 years.

(Foundation Datestamp, 2041NT)

Blinding pain finally begins to subside to merely a classical migraine, if “merely” is an acceptable adverb to be ever paired with “migraine”. The fact that he can open his eyes, aura and all, is considered a victory by the human who has experienced this event eighty or so times since his arrival at Novus Terra.

_The end of the torture is measureable now...just a few more days_, he tries to convince himself.

Amidst the pounding in his head, timed to the pulse beats of his heart, Palver begins working his mental exercises, recalling facts and events to help the pathways reset faster and speeding the recovery. Having little else to do, he focuses solely on his mind and feels the cloud begin to dissipate as his Uplift skills glacially return to him. For beyond the blinding pain of regeneration, the most disturbing thing to the psychohistorian is always the loneliness of not being able to mentally “feel” the world around him and touch the others nearby. That form of claustrophobia is unique to the rare minds that could be opened to the world, which is both a blessing and a curse to him.

“Bio signs say that you’re coming around, finally,” an aged voice is heard.

Moving his head slowly, the pounding multiplied by the effort, Palver attempts to focus on the source of the words, eventually locating a heavily greyed raccoon who sits on a nearby physician’s chair.

“How...long?” Palver slowly croaks out, his voice strained from the screams and moans since the regeneration.

“Fifty-two hours,” Rocky responds. “Pretty much on schedule, and before you ask, the migration was successful. All is normal.”

The human nods slowly, moaning as he immediately regrets the head motion.

“Sorry. You’re going to have to hang in there another day before I can administer any pain medications. It’s too early to block receptors with drugs or it will interfere with the resetting of synapses.”

Palver risks a short nod again in acknowledgement.

“And just so that you know, she’s been contacting me repeatedly. You’re going to have to see her sooner rather than later, or else, that bunny is going to drive me nuts.”

A silent laugh escapes the prone patient, which is again greatly regretted.

“OK. I’ll leave you for now. Doc Johnny will be keeping tabs on you until I return. He was quite a note taker during the whole procedure. Reminds me of his granduncle. He’s got Jonas’ genes, for certain,” the raccoon declares as he slowly rises from the stool and begins to shuffle out the door.

Palver closes his eyes again, refocusing on his training.

_Just a few more days_, he reminds himself.

_Just a few more..._

\------------

The cool, damp cloth against his forehead awakens him from his light dozing. Relief is felt almost immediately as the chill chases the far too slowly dissipating pain in the human’s head. Although still severe, Palver does note that the passage of another day has seen a minor reduction in its intensity, bringing more hope.

A frown now forms on the human’s face, though, as before opening his eyes, he mentally reaches out, expecting to “feel” the expected ibex nurse, yet receives only awareness of a nearby mammal.

“Why the frown?” he hears in a familiar voice that spreads relief through the ailing human.

Opening his eyes, he finds that tending him is a middle-aged, grey rabbit standing on the short steps built into his bed as she rearranges the cloth on his forehead.

“You’re a rabbit,” comes the obvious statement.

The doe’s face breaks into a toothy smile with her ears held high. Her muzzle is framed by lighter grey hair, the only indicator of the twenty-five years that have passed since he first met her.

“Yep. Haven’t changed in almost fifty years,” Judy laughs. “Why? You don’t like rabbits now?”

“No. It’s not that,” Palver attempts to correct softly and only after lightly clearing his throat. The act, unfortunately, diminishes the value gained from the cloth. “I couldn’t feel you, and thought I was backtracking. You being a rabbit explains it.”

Sticking her tongue out at the prone human as her ears drop, the doe quips, “I’m not about to change that. So, you’ll just have to get better with us rabbits.”

Closing his eyes again, Palver asks after a light chuckle, “So, why do I have the honor of being tended to by the ZPD police commissioner?”

“Doc Rocky says you weren’t up to a comm chat, yet. So, I thought we’d come and check on you in person. He also said that the cool cloth would help. Seems like old school to me, though,” Judy comments. “I would have thought you would have something more advanced.”

“We?” the question posed, barely above a whisper.

“Yes…Nick’s here. He’s out in the hall chatting with the doctors.”

“I would have expected him to be busy running the city,” Palver quips.

“Good! You remembered that!” Judy exclaims with ears shooting up again. “He was just elected two weeks ago! How much do you remember of his history?”

A weak wave of a hand silences the rabbit.

“Quietly please,” the human requests, eyebrows knitted showing discomfort.

Ears again drop on the doe. “I’m so sorry,” she apologizes in a softer voice.

“It’s OK. Much of it is coming back now, and remembering things helps. I recall that he left the ZPD about ten years ago, right before you became chief of Precinct One, as he was elected by a landslide to represent Foxtown in the City Council. He’s pretty much been taking over behind the scenes since then.”

Full, toothy grin returns as long, grey ears shoot up in excitement. “I know. I’ve been really proud of him, and the support he’s given the ZPD and ZDF from the Council has been tremendous.”

The doe’s ears suddenly rotate 90 degrees, focusing on the doorway. “They’re coming,” she reports as Palver already feels the presence of others arriving…five to his count.

MedLab doors open as the aged raccoon shuffles in followed by a hairless anteater in a physician’s smock and accompanied by a red fox whose muzzle is shot with grey, showing his late-fifties age. Finishing the group are an ibex nurse and a camel, his heavily-greyed fur showing him to be in his early seventies.

“Good. I was hoping you’d be awake,” Rocky announces. “We can give you something now to help back off that pain.”

Turning to the nurse, the raccoon instructs, “Let’s go with 100 milligrams of Sumatriptan.”

With a quick nod, the nurse exits to obtain the medicine.

“How’s the recovery?” Nick asks now standing next to Judy, fox fingers secretly intertwining with a lapin paw below bed level.

“Slow and painful, just like the other eighty or so times,” Palver responds with a wince.

“Well, sorry about that. I know we sort of pushed you into this. For that, I feel a little guilty. But, it’s good to know you’ll be over it soon and back to your normal, benevolent overlord status,” Nick quips.

“By the way, did Carrots mention our little ‘whoopsie’ from a couple of days ago?” the tod suddenly shifts.

“I didn’t want to bother him with it, Nick. He’s still recovering,” Judy answers.

“What happened?” Palver asks in a clearer voice, momentarily risking more advanced head pounding.

“It’s not a real biggie,” Nick tries to downplay. “But it appears that Pepe and his Skunkworks team at Zorro were testing out their new quantum radar gadget, and unfortunately, someone crossed the wires and put it on the live net. Guess what they found traveling over Zootopia?”

Palver groans both because of the head pain and over what he’s already expecting as an answer.

“If your groan there meant cloaked drone, you hit it right on the first try,” Nick wisecracks. “Their new tech shot right through the ECM. Really grabbed the attention of the ZDF, let me tell you. Thankfully, the report was sent to me, and before they were able to scramble interceptors to go have a look, I was able to get word back here. Huby had them drop the drone low and recall it.”

“We didn’t even realize it was on the net until Nick contacted us,” Huby reports, his softer voice showing signs of his advancing age.

“I had Pepe send a message to the ZDF command apologizing for the false reading, stating that it was a simulation that, unfortunately, was broadcast to the defense grid. Well, that last part, at least, was sort of the truth,” Nick grins. “Plus, it’s always good to know that our defense mammals are paying attention.”

Cranial pounding intensifying, the Foundation Leader lays his head back on his pillow, eyes closed. “I hope you didn’t have me regen just so that you can tell me that we’re now blind.”

“It’s not really a problem. We have more than enough surveillance tech around to keep the Seldon AI fed,” Palver again hears from Huby’s more gravelly voice.

“Besides,” Nick interjects, “I have some other thoughts on how we can use those drones.”

Any follow-up to that conversation is interrupted by the return of the nurse, being trailed by a young-adult rat in a comm-tech uniform.

“Mom! Dad! I didn’t know you were here!” the rat exclaims, closing on the bunny who goes to a knee to hug the smaller rodent.

“Hey, son,” Nick greets, stooping over to lightly pat the rat on the back with his oversized paw. “We just stopped by briefly to see how your now young leader was doing. What’s up?”

“I was working on the particle entanglement comm system, replicating and modifying parts to get it ready for its new task. It’s been an interesting challenge. But, I’ll get it,” the young rodent proudly states.

“Adopting and raising Robin after the LR plague outbreak was a wonderful idea,” the physician raccoon chuckles, using the same nickname of Nick’s father for whom the adopted rattus was named. “When you brought him here, I thought he’d make a good med-tech, but his height was a problem. Turns out, he was perfect for infrastructure.”

“Yeah. I can get into places most of the other comm-techs can’t. Besides, hardware is more forgiving than medical. If you make a mistake, it doesn’t scream and bleed,” the small rodent says with a laugh.

“I was only out for three days!” Palver interrupts with a growl, leaning forward and quickly swallowing the offered medicine to chase the advancing migraine. “What are you doing to my receiver, Nick?”

“All part of the plan,” Nick smirks.

Palver groans and then softly laments, “I knew letting you set up that shadow engineering team was a bad idea. And, calling your company Zorro Industries? You realize that, although rarely used anymore, Spanish was one of the languages we did port to Zootopia, right? You didn’t make it too difficult for the other council members to figure out that it’s your company that’s getting those lucrative engineering contracts.”

“I’m a fox, Palver. I have to keep up the image,” Nick boasts. “Those dimwit, specist council members expect me to be doing something sneaky. So, I make it just hard enough for them that they feel all smug when they think that they’ve discovered my treachery. Then, I give them a little piece of the action from the Zorro contracts to buy them off. It stops them from looking for the more important things that I’m hiding, like this place here. As for the public, nobody is complaining about the sudden boost in technology that is finding its way in their lives.”

“That’s only because my Foundation techs have been feeding your skunkworks team engineering specs from the archives,” the human grumbles.

Dropping his head (softly) back to the pillow, the Foundation Leader then moans, “Why don’t you all give me a few days to get past these headaches? Then, I can discuss with you your thoughts on my drones.”

“Sure! Get some rest, chief. We’ll see you later when your head clears,” Nick offers.

Before exiting, Judy climbs the ladder on the bedside again. Applying a quick kiss to the human’s left temple, she whispers, “Thanks for coming back,” and then hops down to join her mayor husband.

“Well, you can’t beat a bunny kiss for pain management,” Rocky chuckles, shaking his head as he watches the group exit.

“I’ll let that medicine kick in and check on you later,” he racoon adds before shuffling out the door.


	17. Rejection

Brightly lit with artificial lighting above and below the water’s surface, the lap pool sits in the lowest level of the Foundation. Originally built for post-regeneration physical therapy, the pool has long been a favorite place of Palver’s for exercise and stress relief over the centuries. Today, however, the pool is being used for its original purpose to strengthen and develop his new host clone, as the body had been inert since inception. 

Two weeks have now passed since the impromptu MedLab meeting, and with the migraine pain of transference fading into history, the dark-haired human has discovered a new, replacement pain, that of the physical variety. For this regeneration, physical therapy is being overseen by Dr. Johnny Salak, grand-nephew of the renowned Dr. Jonas Salak, and secretly, Palver believes, a sadistic torturer. As he strokes along the never fast enough laps for the physician’s liking, the Foundation Leader suspects that, somehow, the fine lineage of quiet and proper Salaks were interbred with a branch of merciless drill sergeants, the latter currently taking dominant position in the anteater’s personality.

Puffing hard, the mid-twenties human reaches to touch the edge, finishing his laps.

“Five more,” he hears from the anteater squatting before him on the edge of the pool.

“I’ve already done ten,” Palver complains. “Your grand-uncle was far easier on me.”

“I’m not my grand-uncle,” the physician deadpans. “You did ten yesterday. Time to stretch it further. Five more.”

“Sadistic mammal,” Palver grumbles as he pushes off the wall to extend his workout.

Five more laps and Palver, now breathing heavily, heads to the ladder. With water cascading off of him, he climbs the rungs and steps onto the deck only to be stopped short by a grey-haired rabbit who is looking everywhere but in his direction.

“Judy? What brings you here?”

“Nick and I came by to discuss plans going forward,” she announces to the deck below her hind paws, and then looking to her left, continues with, “We found an opening in our schedules and snuck out to come over. They told me I’d find you here, but...”

“Why are you talking to the chair?” Palver curiously asks.

Judy’s ears redden and drop behind her; yet, her eyes remain fixed to the furniture piece. “You’re naked!”

“I am not! I have a swimsuit on!” Palver objects.

“And nothing else! I’m not used to seeing mammals in skin only!” These words were announced to the ceiling. 

Laughing while shaking his head, the young leader walks over to the nearby chair, grabbing a towel to quickly wrap around his shoulders.

“There? Better?”

“Not really. Your legs and stomach are still bare, and you don’t have fur,” Judy responds, amethyst eyes finally meeting the human’s.

“Well, I’m not about to change that. So, you’ll just have to get better with this human,” Palver quips, throwing the bunny’s words back at her from two weeks prior as he sticks out his tongue at her. “Meet me in the conference room in ten minutes. I’ll get dressed so that I’m not flashing any bare skin.”

Rolling her eyes, Judy hastily exits the pool area; whereupon, the Foundation Leader hears the clearing of an anteater’s throat. 

Looking over at the waiting physician, Palver asks the simple, “What?”

“You’re not done with your PT,” Johnny accuses.

“Duty calls, Doc. Add it to the list tomorrow to replace the other fiendish activities you were planning on having me do,” Palver shoots back with a laugh. And then, with a wave, heads for the changing area.

\----------------------------

The Conference Room has been rarely used during the more recent centuries, having been built in the early days of the Foundation for collaboration between the original human team. Similar to the Seldon AI Control Room, the Conference Room is equipped with black, active walls. But unlike the Control Room, it is brightly lit and rectangular in shape as is the table within it. Currently arrayed around that table is a fox and a rabbit on one side, an aged camel at the end, and one, rather disturbed, young adult human on the other side, facing the smaller mammals.

“Why do this?” Palver asks in a calm voice, yet still betraying tightness.

“You said it yourself years ago, Palver. Earth still exists,” the fox mayor defends. “We didn’t have the technology back then to do anything about it, but that’s why I’ve been shifting copious Zootopian funds towards my Skunkworks team along with engineering hints from the Foundation databases. We’re not that far from launching our own version of starhoppers.” 

Seated next to Nick, Judy adds. “We’re very concerned. Now that we’re reaching deeper into space, we need to worry about the security of Zootopia and whether we’re going to meet anyone from Earth out there…or anyone else.”

“The Fermi paradox still holds,” Palver relates. “We’ve never found any other sentient life in the galaxy, which is ludicrous given the odds and frightening in that we almost destroyed the only life we know of. But there it is.” 

The Foundation Leader then stands from his chair and begins to pace, his norm for working through difficult situations. “As for Earth, we’ve been listening for two millennia, and not one signal was ever heard. If their technology still existed, we would have picked up something. We can only suspect that the devastation was too great to maintain their level of technology,” Palver suggests. 

The young human then stops his pacing and stares hard at the smaller mammals, “Have you considered what you may find if you go there? What if the planet is dead or worse, majorly regressed? Are you willing to risk exposing a planet where the mammals are savage? What then? Quarantine it? Set up a nature zoo?”

Throwing his arms in the air, Palver theatrically exclaims, “Come! Watch the savage fox hunt down a bunny and rip it apart before eating it!”, before he places his hands on the table and confronts the couple with, “Do you think Zootopia is ready for that?”

Ears drop and eyes go wide on both small mammals before Nick swallows hard and interjects, “We...thought about that, and that scenario might be exactly what we find. But, it doesn’t negate our concerns. We still need to know.” 

Flopping back into his chair and blowing out a breath, Palver quietly concedes, “I know…I’ve seen this coming ever since you set up that shell company to hide the Foundation technology development.” 

Rubbing a hand over his head, Palver leans over the table, and asks, “So, what’s your plan and when?”

“Three years. That’s the target I’ve given them,” Nick responds. “We launch a starhopper with the capacity to ferry and deploy cloaked drones. Pepe’s team is working on a number of projects dealing with ship propulsion and advanced radar detection like that whoops a couple of weeks ago, along with the modifications of the entanglement comm system to track and interface with the drones.”

“And how are you going to keep the Earth trip a secret?” Palver challenges. 

“I’ve got a plan for that,” Nick explains. “We’re going to launch the Earth bound one first and claim it’s a test launch with a dummy payload. We’ll follow that up by two more launches with starhoppers to the nearby systems. We already know that there is nothing around locally, but the news will be flooded with images from the neighboring systems. Everyone will be so amazed at what’s being relayed to Mission Control by those two that they’ll forget about the first launch, and that starhopper, with its drones, will be controlled from here.”

“Which is why your son has been tinkering with the entangled particle receiver,” Palver states, getting a nod from the tod.

From the end of the table, Huby interjects, “The bandwidth of the new starhoppers are not as great as the original Foundation ones given the current technology of Zootopia. But, it will be enough to position the starhopper and release drones. We won’t be able to recover them. But, we’ll get enough info on the current state of the planet before we ditch them in the oceans.”

“Et tu, Huby?” Palver relents, looking sideways towards the dromedary. 

“We’ve come this far, chief,” the elder camel shrugs. “We’ve always talked about the end of the Foundation’s role here and when to declare it completed. This may just help us with that decision.”

Slumping back into his chair, the young human shallowly nods his head in acceptance. Then leaning forward again, he looks across at the fox and bunny. “So, tell me. Why did you insist on me regenerating if you were only going to end my purpose here in three years? I could have handled it with my prior host.” 

Silence comes from the smaller mammals until the clearing of a camel’s throat is heard, taking the Foundation Leader’s attention towards him.

“It’s my fault, Palver,” Huby admits quietly.

“Not totally,” Judy interrupts. “I was the one who hustled you into starting the clone, as you probably recall.”

“Yes, but the civil war never happened, and the PDL and PRG have since lost much if not most of their influence, ending the crisis,” Palver argues and then turns back towards the camel. “So, why didn’t you let me go?”

“I’m sorry, Palver,” Huby apologies, his eyes never lifting as he stares at the tabletop. “The twins… They were working through the most likely scenarios with the Seldon AI concerning society after the Earth visit becomes known. They’re projecting a civil upheaval led by the religious groups as they try to retain their influence once the truth is exposed. The expectation is a rejection of the discovery as a hoax, leading to a schism between religious and science communities, with the general populace scared and scrambling in between.”

Palver’s jaw drops and then quickly asks, “When?”

“Somewhere in the next seven to ten years if things go as expected, or might be sooner if Nick’s plans on secrecy get compromised and word is leaked of Earth’s existence,” Huby softly answers, eyes only lifting to respond before finding the tabletop again.

“And you just now decide to tell me this?!” The Foundation Leader challenges leaning forward in his chair. Eyes glare, and anger comes through his strained voice.

The camel pauses, regretting his next words. “The best solution is for a figurehead to restore calm. One that would unquestionably be accepted to fill the void of uncertainty. One that would have the answers and stick around long enough to ensure stability. Not regenerating would have put your timeline at risk.”

Lifting his moistened eyes to meet the human’s, the camel continues. “I’m so sorry, Pavler. I was afraid that if I told you that to save society you would have to be revealed, you would reject it and go away.”

Silence fills the room once again as Palver holds speechless.

“I’m sorry too,” Judy finally blurts out. “When Huby came to me with this, I talked with Nick, and we both decided to press you into regenerating. I just hated to think that after all we’ve accomplished, it would crumble once the truth is known.”

Palver sits quietly for a moment, considering. Finally, the Foundation Leader looks towards the camel, his face softening. “I saw your lips move when you explained your actions. Yet somehow, I heard Gemel speaking. You took the right path. He taught you well.”

“I have no desire to be idolized. Two thousand plus years ago, I was young and naive. Because of that, I perpetuated a terrible wrong and have spent the last two millennia trying to atone for it. One should not be revered for what I did back then,” Palver attests, slumping back into his chair. “But what Gemel should also have taught you was that I love Zootopia and its citizens far too much to ever allow them to perish over what he used to describe as my anguish, which is probably as good of a title as any.”

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, the Foundation Leader then continues, “If Seldon says I have to come out to save Zootopia, then I come out. I’ve listened to his counsel for far too long to suddenly ignore him.”

“Besides,” the young human adds, a smile forming on his face as he holds up his hands, checking them over, “It’s a good clone. It would have been a waste to not use it.”


	18. Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter for this story..for now. :) 
> 
> It's been a pleasure writing it, and getting it out of my brain and into words.
> 
> Time jump 3+ years.

(Foundation Datestamp, 2044NT)

The Control Room is unusually well lit, a special accomodation for the first time visitor, as the young-adult dromedary currently stands rigidly, attempting to still his fast beating heart. Next to him, the aged Foundation mathematician stands and places a two-toed paw on his son’s shoulder in a supportive gesture as he attempts to calm his offspring. 

“You’re safe, Elar. Just take a deep breath and exhale slowly,” Huby instructs.

The dark-bearded human, now closing on his late 20’s in appearance, remains seated in his control chair as he attempts not to look as ominous as the young camel fears. Turning slightly, he faces the father and son who had entered the room just moments before.

“Take your time. Every mammal that meets me for the first time has this reaction. You’ll be fine in a moment. Just let me know when you’re ready to talk.”

Swallowing hard, the young camel looks up at his father and receives a supportive nod before looking down towards the mammal seated before him. 

“Who...What are you?”

Huby laughs, and then looks at his son apologetically before addressing the Foundation Leader. “Sorry. I just recall a rabbit challenging you similarly in this very room.”

“It’s happened many more times than that, Huby. Like I said, every mammal reacts this way.”

Focusing his attention towards the younger camel, Palver quickly explains as he has numerous times before. “My name is Palver. I’m a human and leader of this Foundation. I’ll ask your dad to fill you in on the greater details, because unfortunately, I need to join another gathering shortly.”

“Before, I do, though...” he adds, turning and quickly manipulating his control panel which causes the interior lights to dim and the walls to suddenly light up with a long set of detailed equations. “...do you recognize this?” 

Elar blinks for a moment, both adjusting for the dimmer light and still trying to overcome the shock of meeting a human. Momentarily shutting those thoughts off into the corner of his mind, the mathematician looks at the wall, quickly recognizing the equations.

“Yes. Those are my equations for addressing chaos. They’re the basis of the doctoral thesis that I’m completing.”

Confused, the son looks towards the father, getting a two pawed, silent response back that suggests he should just relax.

“Why? Is there something wrong with them?” the anxious camelid asks.

Palver quickly laughs. “Nope. Nothing wrong at all.”

Addressing the father, the leader then challenges, “And, you had nothing to do with this?”

“Other than suggesting areas of interest for a thesis, no. Elar picked this topic and began his work without any guidance from me.”

Smiling at his son, Huby adds, “He’s rather independent and wanted to do this on his own, which is what Baatir always wanted of our son. She was afraid that I would ‘taint’ him with the Foundation and not allow him to grow up with a normal life, beyond the fact that he never knew what his father or uncles did for a living.” The last part was added with a laugh.

“Understood,” Palver concurs as he turns back to his controls and manipulates them to blur the wall again, resolving into a new set up equations. These are somewhat more detailed and utilize a different symbol set. 

“How about this?” he asks again of the young mathematician.

Elar again reviews the walls, this time pausing to go line by line. The symbols were different, but it seems to be a more enriched version of what was previously displayed.

Suddenly the camel’s jaw drops. “Shifting Sands! Has someone already published my work?!”

Now, Palver really laughs, “Yes...over two-thousand years ago, but nobody alive outside of me, your father or your uncles know of it. They’re called ‘achaotic equations’ and were developed to make it more possible to get around the problem of chaos...like you were doing.”

“Your brilliant son just developed one of the base axioms of Psychohistory, Huby. Congratulations! How long do you predict before the rest of it starts showing up?”

“Unaided? Eight to ten years,” Huby answers straight-away. “When he finally relented and offered for me to look over his work, I knew I had to bring him here immediately. You always said that once the axioms started appearing, we would need to own and control the development. I never dreamed that it would be my own son that I would be bringing through the door, though.”

Smiling and nodding his head with understanding, the Foundation Leader rises from his control chair and steps before Elar, whose eyes widen at the approach. Sticking out his hand, Palver offers to the young camel who hesitantly reaches out to grasp and shake it.

“Elar, Welcome to the Foundation. Your father will brief you on the rest. I would have looked forward to working with you here behind the scenes. But, I expect that once your thesis gets published, you’re going to become a household name fairly quickly,” Palver finishes before stepping past the two camels to greet the other part of destiny.

\-----------------------

The conference room had been repurposed over the previous twelve months. Gone are the table and chairs, replaced instead by three control stations of various sizes that sit in the middle of the room and face one of the long walls. Currently, the stations are in use by the Foundation comm-techs for flight control. The center station is surprisingly the smallest of the three wherein sits a male rat only a few years older than the young mathematician that Palver had just met. Robin’s dedication to the project along with technical prowess and swift comprehension had gained him the honor of chief communications and control.

Placed behind the stations and facing the same wall, are a row of viewing chairs where the fox mayor and his rabbit wife stand, too nervous to sit at the moment. Now joining them is the Foundation Leader who had just stepped into the room. All eyes are focused on the long wall ahead of them which currently depicts a stellar scene with a bright central star quite distant from the camera.

Finishing the room are two more control stations, positioned at the far end of the long room and also facing the display wall. Here sit the twins, their mathematical skills having been pressed into service for astronomical calculations and coordination of the hyperjumps. Quietly, they confer on the readings from the starhopper, measuring them against the Foundation stellar cartographic archives.

As one, the twins raise their heads and announce their findings, finishing each other’s thoughts, a normal pattern for them, which can cause minor whiplash to anyone who engages in conversation with them as a pair.

“We’ve got the gas giant and the ringed planet identified.”

“Referring to archives now to place the rest of the planets.” 

The twin brothers again huddle as they work out the celestial mechanics. After a pause, they again simultaneously look up as the central station beeps. 

“OK. Got it. Sending the orders,” Robin announces.

Minutes tick by as the board goes dark, only to be replaced by an image of a blue planet circled by a sole moon.

Palver moans with recognition as the Atlantic Ocean is full in the frame with the African and European continents to the right and the Americas to its left. “I never thought I would see that world again.”

“Starhopper is not picking up any signals,” Robin reports, interrupting the Foundation Leader’s lament. “Some high orbit wreckage, but no ships or transmissions.”

Palver steps forward and turns to face the fox and bunny, his back now to the planetary scene being displayed. “Well, Mr. Mayor, Madam Commissioner,” he starts, “No signals. No immediate threat. We can rest assured that Zootopia is safe from Earth.”

“Squatting down now to be more on their level, the Foundation Leader continues. “But now, you’ve got a quandary on your paws. You’ve accomplished your goal, yet sitting before you is Pandora’s box.”

Pausing to look at both fox and bunny separately, the leader continues. “This is no longer my call. The time of the Foundation’s guidance is ending. It’s your turn to decide Zootopia’s fate.”

All look towards the vulpin who takes a deep breath and checks with his bride. Fingers are intertwined as green meets purple.

“The truth,” Judy says to her husband. “I always want the truth.”

Nodding his head, Nick calls over Palver’s shoulder. “Son, send the drones. Let’s go check in on our cousins.”

And the lid is opened...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, great thanks for the comments and kudos. If you ever find yourself in Godville, feel free to look me up and say hello as that's where I generally hang out.
> 
> Lordy...


End file.
